Police have fined men for using a mikveh in Stamford Hill during Pesach in contravention of social distancing rules.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that “a small number of people were issued with fixed penalty notices after using a mikveh at an address in Craven Walk on Friday, April 10”.

They were dispersed without arrest.

Breaches of distancing requirements can incur a penalty of £60 – or £30 if paid within a fortnight.

While immersion in a mikveh by a woman after menstruation is an essential part of traditional Judaism, its use by pious men before Shabbat is a custom.

The United Synagogue has said men should refrain from visiting the mikveh during the coronavirus crisis.

A group of Jewish doctors in advice to the Charedi community said men’s mikvaot should be closed.

Both the US and the S & P Sephardi Community have issued tight guidelines on how women should use the mikveh during the current health emergency in order to prevent the spread of infection.