The rise in deaths from coronavirus among British Jews appears to be slowing down, according to the latest Board of Deputies figures.

Whereas the death toll leapt from 256 on April 16 to 335 eight days later – an increase of 79 – from April 24 to the most recent figure on April 29 the increase was just 21  – from 335 to 356 in five days.

According to the Office of National Statistics, 19,112 people in England and Wales had died from the disease by April 17.

If one estimates the Jewish figure to be 269 for that day (based on the daily average between the 256 on April 16 and the 296 reported by the Board on April 19), then Jewish deaths would amount to 1.4 per cent of the total for England and Wales. Jews comprise 0.5 per cent of the UK population.

One factor behind the disproportionately high number of Jewish deaths may be that two-thirds of the community live in London, which has been particularly badly hit by the outbreak.

But the Board figures, mainly from London and Manchester, exclude some communities, a source  from the yeshivah town of Gateshead, which has a comparatively young population, earlier this week said the 3,000 strong-community had lost four people due to coronavirus.