Members of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom, especially black men and women, face a higher risk of dying from Covid-19, according to data from England and Wales released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.
According to the ONS, the mortality rate from the novel coronavirus is 4.2 times higher for black men than for white men.
The numbers are similar for black women whose death rate from Covid-19 is 4.3 times higher than for white women.
The ONS statisticians found that black people are 1.9 times more likely to die of the virus even when age, socio-demographic characteristics and measures of health and disability are taken into account.
People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities had “statistically significant raised risk of death” from Covid-19, compared with those of white ethnicity, the ONS said.
“These results show that the difference between ethnic groups in Covid-19 mortality is partly a result of socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained,” the ONS said in its report.
