30 British Jewish victims of coronavirus buried in three-day span

Jewish umbrella group says at least 115 Jews in UK have died of COVID-19, 2.1% of the total number of fatalities there

By ToI Staff and Agencies 6 April 2020, 9:29 pm Edit

Illustrative: Volunteers from the Hatzola ambulance service, wearing gloves and masks to protect against the coronavirus, wheel a patient into Royal London Hospital in London on March 29, 2020. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP)

The British Board of Deputies on Monday said that 30 burials of Jewish victims of the coronavirus were carried out between April 2 and April 5, bringing the number of Jews to die from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom to at least 115.

“We wish their families a long life, and pray that the memory of their loved ones should be for a blessing,” the umbrella group said in a statement.

The announcement came as the UK confirmed 439 virus deaths over the last day, bringing the the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country to 5,373.

Based on the British Board of Deputies figure of 115 Jewish victims, Jews make up 2.1 percent of the total fatalities in the UK from the coronavirus, though they account for only 0.3% of its population.

That means British Jews are over-represented by a factor of seven in their country’s death toll from COVID-19.

The figures are raising concerns that British Jews are particularly at risk from the virus. They are also giving rise to multiple hypotheses to explain this reality, though none seems conclusive.