Ethnic minorities more likely to die from COVID-19, says UK statistics office

Fri, Jun 19, 2020
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Foreign

INDIVIDUALS from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are more likely to die after contracting COVID-19 than their white counterparts, the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday.

“ONS analysis continues to show that people from a black ethnic background are at a greater risk of death involving COVID-19 than all other ethnic groups.

“The risk for black males has been more than three times higher than white males and nearly two and a half times higher for black females than white,” ONS Head of Life Events Nick Stripe said in a statement.

According to a study of COVID-19 mortality rates from March 2 to May 15, the ONS said that black males were 3.3 more times likely to die after contracting the coronavirus disease than white males of the same age.

The rate for black females of the same age was 2.4 times greater than for white females.

After adjusting for all variables, the ONS found that black males were twice as likely to die after contracting COVID-19 as white males, and black women were 1.4 times more likely to die than their white counterparts.

The statistical office also found that those of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin had increased mortality rates from COVID-19 compared to white people.

As of Thursday, more than 300,000 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the U.K. since the start of the outbreak.

A total of 1,218 new positive tests were reported over the preceding 24 hours, a slight rise from the 1,115 new cases confirmed the day before.

The Department of Health and Social Care has so far confirmed 42,288 coronavirus disease-related deaths.

The ONS did not say anything about the factors that could be responsible for such outcomes.

NAN

– June 19, 2020 @ 15:29 GMT |

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