BNEI BRAK, Israel

A vaccination campaign continues Thursday in Bnei Brak that has been dubbed the Wuhan of Israel because of the high rate of coronavirus infections.

Most Ultra-Orthodox Jews do not acknowledge the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic and are against receiving a vaccine. As a result, a high number of cases have been detected in regions with large ultra-Orthodox populations.

More than 46,000 cases were detected in Bnei Brak province, which has a population of 210,000, according to local sources.

That means an average of one in every five people there is infected with the virus.

Israeli and the Bnei Brak Municipality attach great importance to the vaccination campaign in the city.

Although the number of people in the city who have been vaccinated has increased in recent days, it falls well behind the average in Israel.

More than 60% of the Israeli population have received at least one dose of the vaccine at the beginning of the week, while that number is 37% in Bnei Brak.

The vast majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredis, who make up 10% of Israel's population, refuse to join the Israeli army on grounds they cannot fulfill religious duties.

Haredis, who live mostly in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, do not accept the secular education system and receive teaching at their own religious schools.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz