Thirteen Americans suspected of being exposed to the novel coronavirus during a trip to the Holy Land are in quarantine near Bethlehem, the Biblical birthplace of Jesus, and are coordinating with the U.S. and Palestinian authorities so as to go home.

"It was going to be the trip of a lifetime," Chris Bell, 42, lead pastor of the 3Circle Church in Fairhope, Alabama, said in a video chat with Reuters from the Angel Hotel in Beit Jala, which is next to Bethlehem.

"The 13 of us would be what I would call a community of faith," Bell said.

"What we're doing is encouraging each other every day, we are reminding one another that we love each other. We are reminding each other that we trust in God and that he has a plan for it," he said.

His church works with a school in Bethlehem, part of the reason for their visit to the Holy Land, he said.

The Angel Hotel was the first area of coronavirus concern in the Bethlehem area. After several of its workers tested positive this week, the Palestinian Authority swiftly declared a state of emergency in all Palestinian-controlled territories and put in place a temporary closure of all churches and mosques in Bethlehem, including the renowned Church of Nativity. 

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinian security forces staffed checkpoints and turned foreigners away, while schools, colleges, kindergartens and national parks were ordered closed.

Israel, in the meantime, has placed Bethlehem on lockdown, banning Israelis and Palestinians from entering the holy city. Israel now has 21 confirmed cases.

Bell thanked the Palestinian, Israeli and U.S, officials who were tending them, and said the hotel had made sure they were getting enough food, water and medicine.

"Even if we need to be quarantined, we're hoping that the United States, our own country, will possibly fly us home," he said. "And if they need to quarantine us there for a time we understand that. But, you know, we need to get home," he said.

Athens also announced Wednesday that a group of Greek pilgrims who had visited Bethlehem tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return to Greece. 

Its health ministry said these new cases would very likely bring a rise in virus infections in the country, which has 46 confirmed cases so far. 

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(Cover image: A view of the old city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 2, 2019. /Reuters)

(With input from Reuters)