JERUSALEM (AFP) - Nearly 200 Israeli pupils were ordered to begin a two-week quarantine from Sunday (Feb 23) after having come into contact with South Korean tourists who contracted the coronavirus, the education ministry said.

South Korean members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus toured Israeli sites between Feb 8 and 15 and upon their return home, 18 of them were discovered to be infected with the virus.

Israel's health ministry urged people who might have encountered them to self-quarantine, including 180 pupils and 19 staff from three separate schools who it said had close contact with the South Korean visitors.