Iran Press/ Europe: A study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimated 64 percent of the UK’s strictly-Orthodox Jewish community have tested positive for coronavirus.
The figure rose to 75 percent for adults. The national average for people who have tested positive currently stands at 7 percent, and 11 percent in London.
The 15,000-strong community is believed to be highly concentrated in the North London suburb, leading to claims that it is one of the world’s Covid hotspots.
Only a handful of studies have found similar rates in local areas, according to the report’s co-author, Dr. Michael Marks.
One of them was in the Brazilian city of Manaus, where an overwhelming wave of cases has led to hospitals running out of oxygen supplies and mass graves dug into the earth near cemeteries.
Leaders in the British Orthodox Jewish community have urged those celebrating the festival of Purim this week to stick to social distancing guidelines.
Purim traditions include exchanging gifts of food and drink with friends and neighbors, and last year’s celebrations were blamed for a spike in cases.
Chaya Spitz, head of the Interlink Foundation, an umbrella group for Jewish charities, told The Sunday Times that ‘every household’ will be sent leaflets in English and Yiddish on how to celebrate safely.
Richard Ferrer, the editor of Jewish News, a community newspaper, told the newspaper social distancing rules were tough for the Orthodox community but the religious leaders could have done more to encourage compliance.
The community’s cumulative caseload has continued to grow beyond the national average over several lockdowns, although it may have already had one of the highest rates as early as Spring 2020.
Almost 40 percent of 700 strictly-Orthodox Jews surveyed by LSHTM researchers during the first wave reported an illness they believed was Covid-19.
The study was conducted with support from the Medical Advocacy and Referral Service, a healthcare body representing strictly-Orthodox Jews.
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