Jewish Covid-19 Mortality total for 31 December 2021: 964

More than 300 Jewish funerals took place in 2021 where Covid-19 was recorded on the death certificate as reported to the Board of Deputies.

In total, 310 Jewish funerals where the deceased contracted Covid-19 were reported to the Board from 3 January 2021 until 31 December 2021, compared to 654 in the year up to 1 January 2021. More than 300 Jewish funerals where the deceased had contracted Covid-19 were reported to the Board of Deputies within the first month of counting (23 March 2020-23nApril 2020) although that count did not include smaller communities.

Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl said: “Each of the 964 members of our community who died after contracting Covid-19 is a heavy loss for their families and our thoughts are with them. It is clear from these figures that the Jewish community is taking the challenge of Covid seriously, with far fewer Covid-related deaths this year than last. I urge everyone eligible to take a vaccine to do so, so that we can protect our loved ones and continue to rebuild our communal way of life.”

Working with the Jewish community’s burial boards, regional Jewish communities and the Jewish Small Communities Network, as of the week ending 31 December 2021, there have been 964 Jewish funerals carried out where the deceased contracted Covid-19. There have been 7 funerals in the Jewish community where the deceased contracted Covid-19 reported to the Board of Deputies in the last two weeks.

We wish bereaved families a long life, and pray that the memory of their loved ones should be for a blessing.

The Board of Deputies is liaising with seven of the largest denominational burial boards to collate an indicator of deaths where Covid-19 was a factor. These denominational burial boards 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, the United Synagogue Burial Society and the Western Charitable Foundation. The Board of Deputies has either received reports from the following regional communities, or has accounted for them through the largest denominational burial boards where they cover that particular community: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bognor Regis, Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove, Canvey Island, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Cornwall, Darlington, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Exeter, Gateshead, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Solihull, Southend, Southport, St Annes, Stoke on Trent and Swansea. The indicator enumerates how many funerals were carried out by these burial societies and communities where COVID-19 appeared on the death certificate of the deceased. As such it covers both deaths in hospitals and in the wider community. When making comparisons of data, please note that data separate to this indicator may not have similar parameters. Please do not take successive figures as indicative of exact trend as smaller communities cannot report weekly.

 

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