British rabbi who visited Morocco contracted coronavirus while in UK, Council of Jewish communities says

London’s St John’s Wood Synagogue rabbi Yoni Golker contracted coronavirus before traveling to Morocco earlier this month, the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco said in a communiqué sent Sunday to Yabiladi.

The rabbi «went for a four-day trip to Morocco (between March 2 and 5)», the same communiqué read, adding that «the Federation of Synagogues Ohr Yisrael in the UK has confirmed that Yoni Golker has been contaminated by one of the old members of his congregation before his Morocco trip».

«The few members of the community that the British rabbi has briefly met are feeling well and have not shown any symptoms», the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco concluded.

For the record, the British rabbi has said that he «had mild symptoms and is feeling better than when they first appeared last week». He is currently «in quarantine isolation in London».

Reached by phone, Yoni Golker told JTA that he «visited the synagogue and Jewish school in Casablanca, Morocco, last week, before he began displaying symptoms». When he got back to England, he showed symptoms of coronavirus.

Members who were in close contact with the rabbi during the last two weeks have been asked to self-isolate for a period of two weeks, Times of Israel wrote, without referring to the rabbi’s trip to Morocco.