UK’s ethnic minorities at higher COVID-19 risk: Report

Ethnic minorities including black men and women are more than four times at risk of dying from the novel Coronavirus disease than white people in the United Kingdom (particularly England and Wales), according to a study conducted by the UK's Office of National Statistics. The data extracted from the study shows black males, particularly older in age, were 4.2 times more likely to die due to the disease than the white males. Similarly, black females were 4.3 times more vulnerable to death from the virus than white females. Unprecedentedly, all minority ethnic groups should higher mortality risks, except for Chinese women. For the Chinese ethnic group, a raised risk was found among males but not in females. The report further revealed that people of India, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and mixed ethnicities showed an increased risk of death involving the disease when compared with people of White ethnicity. The data has been compiled from the analysis carried out between March 2 and April 10 in the UK.

A related study by a team of researchers from the University of Oxford and other UK institutions also shows a difference in the effect of the pandemic outbreak on various ethnic backgrounds. According to observations derived from the research, Asian and black people appeared to have a higher risk of death from COVID-19 infection as compared to white people.

Furthermore, possible risk factors included poorer socio-economic backgrounds, while the researchers are still trying to find out other causes of increased vulnerability to the COVID-19 disease among Black, Asian, or minority ethnic groups (BAME).

In the wake of these findings, pressure is reportedly increasing on the UK government to conduct an independent public inquiry to find out the reasons behind higher risks from the virus among ethnic minorities. A coalition of over 70 leading personalities from the UK's black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) group have written a letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson raising the matter. In the letter, they have asserted that the Public Health England (PHE) led-government review into the factors causing the scattered impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups lacks transparency, and have called for the government to launch an independent public inquiry for better clarity on the research findings.

The BAME groups have called for an inquiry to probe the possible contributing factors explaining the disproportionate effects of Coronavirus on the people of their communities. A review was conducted by the UK government's Public Health England in April. As per the survey conducted by the Research and Innovation Forum of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals from minority ethnic backgrounds were at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus in the UK. More than 33,000 people have died in the entire UK due to the novel pandemic.