Israeli chief of staff enters COVID-19 self-quarantine

Israeli chief of staff has gone into quarantine after an officer, who joined a meeting with Aviv Kochavi, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The chief of the General Staff, General Aviv Kochavi, held 10 days ago a session with commanders... it was confirmed today that one of the commanders who participated in the session was infected with coronavirus," military spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said in a statement.

Kochavi's self-quarantine takes place at his office until the end of the week in line with the instructions of Health Ministry.

The spokesman pointed out that two other top commanders who participated in the meeting will go into self-quarantine as well until the end of the week.

Israel's death toll from the coronavirus has rose to 18 and a total of 4,831 cases have been recorded so far.

After originating in Wuhan last December, the virus currently has spread to at least 178 countries and regions across the world, with its epicenter shifting to Europe, while China has largely come out of the crisis.

The virus has killed more than 39,000 people and infected over 803,600 globally, while some 172,700 people recovered from the disease, according to figures collated by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.