Drone Footage Shows Israel's Most Crowded City Under Coronavirus Curfew

The main streets of the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak in central Israel would normally be crowded, especially days before the Passover seder. But drone footage reveals the post-apocalyptic nature of the lockdown conditions the city was put under after it was declared a 'restricted zone' by the Israeli government on Thursday, in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Confirmed cases ballooned in the religious Tel Aviv suburb in the last week of March, with many blaming a lack of information and the reticence of local officials to enforce and encourage social distancing regulations. 

As of Sunday, 1,218 Bnei Brak residents had tested positive for the virus, the equivalent of  5.74 patients per thousand inhabitants - but authorities fear many more will test positive, there and in other Haredi neighborhoods, in the coming days.

>> Read more: Coronavirus, the greatest challenge to ultra-Orthodox Jewish life since the Holocaust