Concern raised over high COVID-19 deaths among UK black population
Published:Friday | May 1, 2020 | 12:28 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
People of Caribbean and African ancestry in the United Kingdom (UK) admit to being concerned over the impact of COVID-19 on their communities, historically some of the poorest in Britain, with a disproportionate number of deaths among black people.
Their fears have triggered a response from Matt Hancock, secretary of state for health and social care, who, last week, called for an inquiry and review of coronavirus deaths in people of African and Caribbean descent.
“Figures have shown that COVID-19 has impacted the black population in the UK generally, Jamaicans included, more than three times as much as any other groups of people, and concerns are growing, and no one can really blame them,” said Dr Desmond Jaddoo of the Birmingham Empowerment Forum.
A number of health workers, most from minority ethnic backgrounds have died after contracting the virus.
Head of the UK doctor’s union Dr Chaand Nagpaul, who also heads the British Medical Association, called for a government investigation into whether minorities were more vulnerable to COVID-19.
“At face value, it seems hard to see how this can be random,” Nagpaul said in reference to the first 10 doctors in the UK to be named as having died from coronavirus-related symptoms coming from minority backgrounds.
“We have heard the virus does not discriminate between individuals, but there’s no doubt there appears to be a manifest disproportionate severity of infection in BAME (black, Asian, and minority ethnic) people and doctors. This has to be addressed. The government must act now,” Nagpaul told The Guardian.
Further, Jaddoo told The Gleaner that it is quite understandable that the minority peoples would be alarmed and scared of COVID-19. He said the figures had raised many unanswered questions beyond the obvious medical issues in some groups.
He said that there have been several “testy” exchanges in British media on whether the virus is having a disproportionate effect on minority groups there.
As at 5:30 p.m. yesterday, Johns Hopkins University reported 172,478 COVID-19 confirmed cases and 26,842 deaths.
Toby Lewis, chief executive for the Sandwell and West Birmingham National Health Service Trust, explained that data from across the UK show a massive age and gender factor in that country’s mortality rate.
He said also that poverty and lifestyle illnesses such as high blood pressure are some of the leading causes of COVID-19 deaths.
“There is an understandable suspicion about the situation, [and] it is true that 26 out of 27 doctors from the black community so far have contracted COVID-19. But there is no racial profiling taking place in our hospitals,” Lewis said. “The data reveals the reasons, and the decency of our staff gives me absolute confidence there isn’t.”