Forty-three funerals of UK Jews who died from coronavirus were reported to the Board of Deputies for the week ending January 8, the highest weekly total since April.

Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl said: “We have recorded our biggest weekly increase in Covid-19 funerals in some time. This is the deadliest week for the Jewish community since April and we must all follow government guidance scrupulously to protect our older and more vulnerable loved ones, as well as the health system on which we all rely.”

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 691 UK Jewish deaths from the virus.

Initially, the Board counted only from the six largest burial societies, in addition to the Orthodox burial societies in Manchester. This "core group" reported 22 such funerals for the week ending May 1, a figure not reached until the reports this week, totalling 35. The 43 deaths also include other provincial reports. The week with the highest Jewish mortality as recorded by the Board was in mid-April, the week of Pesach, where the "core group" recorded 104 such funerals.