Asian care home residents ‘more likely to die with coronavirus than whites’

ASIAN men and black and Asian women living in care homes in England are at a greater risk of death involving coronavirus than white residents, figures suggest.

The Covid-19 death rate for female care home residents from an Asian background was twice as high compared to white residents, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The death rate for male Asian residents was 1.6 times greater than the rate for white residents.

Black residents were 1.6 and 1.7 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than white men and women respectively.

The ONS estimated mortality rates involving Covid-19 of ethnic groups based on deaths between March 2 and July 28 which could be linked to the 2011 Census.

Analysts used NHS hospital episode statistics to see whether attending hospital in the past three years for a relevant health condition affects the risk of death with the virus.

While they identified an increased risk for certain ethnicities in care homes, the ONS said it is lower than the increased risk between ethnicities living in private homes.

When adjusting for care homes’ geography and population density, the risk was reduced for all ethnic groups when compared to the white population. The increased risk for black males reduced to 1.3, and for black women to 1.4, while for Asian men and women it decreased to 1.4 and 1.7 respectively.

Further adjusting for underlying health status reduced the risk by a small amount for both ethnicities, with the resulting increased risk for black men no longer significant.

The ONS said: “Overall, the mortality rates among ethnic groups do not show the same extent of increased risk observed among ethnic minorities in the general population. After controlling for geography and health, we observe only a small significant increased risk for Asian males and black and Asian females; the risk to Asian females after adjustment is 1.7 times the risk to white females.”