ANKARA

Israel will track confirmed and suspected coronavirus patients by monitoring their cell phones, local daily Haaretz reported on Thursday. 

The Israeli government said the decision was part of efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus and would help in enforcement of quarantine orders.

The government clarified that only those confirmed or suspected to have been infected with coronavirus would be monitored by Israeli police and internal security service Shin Bet.

The mechanism will be implemented in cooperation with the Israeli Health Ministry to help identify suspected patients and those they may have come into contact with, the newspaper reported.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Israel climbed to 529 on Thursday after the Health Ministry confirmed 96 new cases over the past 24 hours.