Black people in the UK are four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people and a number of other ethnic groups are also at an increased risk, according to new data released Thursday.
A report by the Office for National Statistics found black women (defined by the study as Black Caribbean, Black African and Black Other) are 4.3 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than white women, while black men are 4.2 more likely to die.
People of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities also had a “statistically significant raised risk of death,” the report found.
The disparities are “partly a result of socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained,” the study said.
Even after taking into account age, demographic factors and measures of self-reported health problems, black people were still almost twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than white people.
While the report was unable to clearly outline every factor behind the trend, its conclusions make clear the the pandemic — frequently referred to as a “great equalizer” — is anything but.
“It is urgent the causes of this disproportionality are investigated,” the UK’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy tweeted on Thursday, calling the findings “appalling.”
Source: Black people in UK four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people
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