The French association of Jewish doctors told daily Haaretz that the number of Jewish infections seemed to be disproportionately high, possibly because Purim celebrations served as a vector for the disease and because most French Jews live in Paris or Strasbourg, where the infection rate is higher is then in the rest of the country.

There have been 372 deaths in the British Jewish community,  representing about 1.7% of all deaths in a country where only 0.3% of the population are Jews (250,000).

 

At least 1,300 members of the Jewish community in France have died from coronavirus, the country’s Jewish burial service said.

Hundreds have been flown to be laid to rest in Israel, according to a report from the Makor Rishon daily on Friday, while other reports put the number of deaths from Covid-19 at 2,000.

As of Friday, Jews make up about 5 percent of the 25,987 reported fatalities in France.

The French association of Jewish doctors, AMIF, told Haaretz that the number of Jewish infections seemed to be disproportionately high, possibly because Purim celebrations served as a vector for the disease and because most French Jews live in Paris or Strasbourg, where the infection rate is higher is then in the rest of the country.

In March, Joel Mergui, a physician and president of the Consistoire  organization managing French synagogues, Jewish schools, and kosher certifications, was hospitalized during two weeks after having been infected. He gave a tearful radio interview from a hospital ICU to Radio J, a Jewish station, urging the community to adhere to social distancinge. He has since been released from the hospital. Among the community’s deaths from the virus is Andre Touboul, a Chabad rabbi who ran one of France’s most prestigious high schools in Paris.

Around 500,000 Jews live in France.

The figures show that the French Jewish community has been the most hard-hit in Europe to date. There have been 372 deaths in the British Jewish community,  representing about 1.7% of all deaths in a country where only 0.3% of the population are Jews (250,000).

There are several theories as to why the Jewish death rate is nearly six times that of the general population, including their disproportionate representation in the London hotspot, their relatively advanced age and the failure to practice social distance early in some Haredi Orthodox neighborhoods.

Among the people who died Avrohom Pinter, one of the most influential rabbis in Stamford Hill, an Haredi district of North London, and the first British rabbi to serve as city councilor, philanthropist Irving Carter and Yehuda Yaakov Refson, the oldest Chabad rabbi in the city ​​of Leeds.

About a dozen Italian Jews are known to have died of Covid-19 which killed 29,000 Italians. About three weeks after the start of the major coronavirus outbreak in the country, Michele Sciama, a Jewish leader and former head of the Jewish community in Milan, died of the virus.

Unlike the rest of Europe, the Netherlands has never had a strict coronavirus lockdown. Beth Shalom, a Jewish retirement home in Amsterdam, with its own synagogue, a community center and an adjoining house, faced a major outbreak. It stuck to its open door policy until March 20, even as contagion levels in the country began to rise. As a result, it became the worst-hit Jewish institution, with 26 deaths to date of the 120 elderly living there.

About 36,000 Jews live in the Netherlands. The country has more than 4,500 reported deaths in total.