There have been a number of coronavirus outbreaks in Israeli yeshivos, including Chevron, Kol Yaakov, Derech Chachmah and Ohr Yisrael, with dozens of bochurim diagnosed with the virus, Kikar H’Shabbos reported.

The outbreaks apparently occurred due to the bochurim returning home for Chanukah.

In Kol Torah, there are already close to 50 confirmed carriers. A bochur told Kikar: “Baruch Hashem we lasted until now – over ten months- without even one case in yeshivah. There are now dozens of bochurim who tested positive.”

“We returned after Chanukah vacation and the tests were delayed for close to a week. We’ve been so careful but the bochurim are getting tired of it and some of the capsules have begun to mix with other capsules. This is how we ended up with mass infection – due to the delay of the tests.”

A yeshivah bochur from Derech Chachmah told Kikar: “We returned after Chanukah vacation and like always, all the bochurim went to get tested. But the tests were delayed and one carrier managed to infect a large number of bochurim.”

“There are at least ten confirmed patients and following the tests that were carried out today for the entire yeshivah, I believe that we’ll have dozens of confirmed cases because there are dozens of bochurim with symptoms.”

At the beginning of the week, dozens of bochurim were diagnosed with the virus in Chevron Yeshivah, which is known for being extremely stringent with the health regulations.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)