Concern at lack of recommendations to save lives
BLACK and Asian people in England are up to 50 per cent more likely to die after becoming infected with Covid-19, an official study said on Tuesday (2), putting pressure on the government to outline plans to protect the most at-risk communities.
While the report by Public Health England (PHE) reinforced previous studies which indicated ethnic minority groups were more at risk from the virus, it was not accompanied by specific government advice for those people.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said equalities minister Kemi Badenoch would look at the issue further.
“We will put action in place as soon as we can. We won’t wait for a report,” Hancock said.
Doctors, politicians and footballers have been among those expressing concern about the unexplained higher mortalities in ethnic minorities.
The report said that people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had approximately twice the risk of death of people who were white British.
Those of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ethnicity, as well as those of Caribbean or other black ethnicity, had between a 10 per cent to 50 per cent higher risk of death than those in the white British group, PHE said.
The findings echo a previous study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released last month.
Reacting to the PHE review, Labour’s shadow women and equalities secretary Marsha de Cordova said the review was “notably silent” on any recommendations on reducing disparities.
“Having the information is a start – but now is the time for action,” she said. “The government must not wait any longer to mitigate the risks faced by these communities, and must act immediately to protect BAME people so that no more lives are lost.”
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, said there needed to be more information on the larger number of deaths among a range of lower-paid caring occupations including social care, nursing auxiliaries and assistants.
“The usual cry of ‘more research’ usually elicits groans but it is the right response here and reflects that everyone is trying to understand the impact of a new virus on some known inequalities,” he said.
Testing chief John Newton said although Tuesday’s report showed worse outcomes for minority groups, it may not be directly caused by their ethnicity. “It may be related to their occupation or to other reasons why they might be at a higher level of exposure,” he said.