152 UK Jews have died after contracting coronavirus

The number of coronavirus-related fatalities has risen to 152 among UK Jews as of Tuesday, up from 121 the previous day, according to data collated by the Board of Deputies.

“It breaks my heart that coronavirus continues to affect all parts of the Jewish community. As we enter the festival of Pesach, we wish families who have lost loved ones a long life, and pray that their memory should be for a blessing,” said the Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl.

The figures, released on Tuesday, refer to the number of funerals carried out by burial societies, where covid-19 appeared on the deceased’s death certificate.

They include fatalities in hospital and beyond, using data gathered from six of the largest Orthodox and denominational burial boards.

They are the Adath Yisroel Burial Society, the Federation of Synagogues Burial Society, the Joint Jewish Burial Board, Liberal Judaism, the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community and the United Synagogue Burial Society.

The figures come after Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis described a “religious and moral imperative” to stay at home during the pandemic on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on Monday.

He said: “Staying at home is not easy, but it is the best way to show our appreciation to the medical staff to whom we owe so much. It is a religious and moral imperative to do so.”

The national death toll rose to 6,159 as of Monday afternoon, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed on Tuesday.