Racism, inequality left UK minorities at risk from COVID-19
Ahmed Kaballo
Press TV, London
Alarming new data indicates that British citizens from ethnic minority backgrounds are at a much higher risk of becoming critically ill from Covid-19.
Findings reported by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Center found that 35% of patients were non-white, nearly triple the 13% proportion in the UK population as a whole.
In addition to this, 28% of those of the most serious cases were either Asian or black.
Prominent Journalists and British Parliamentarians from ethnic minority backgrounds have been highlighting the study on social media with experts suggesting that there are many factors contributing, such as the fact that ethnic minorities are twice as likely to come from poorer socio-economic backgrounds; more likely to have public-facing jobs and more likely to live in overcrowded conditions meaning self-isolation is difficult.
Press TV spoke to NHS consultant, physician and surgeon Dr Ranjeet Brar to get his reaction to the report.
This grim trend is also echoed in the United States where Black, Latino and Native Americans are more at risk of experiencing deadly symptoms of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For example, in the city of Chicago, African Americans make up just 30% of the city's population but represent over 72% of Covid-19 deaths.
The coronavirus has already exposed many shortfalls in the healthcare systems in both the United States and the United Kingdom but what this latest study indicates is that the disease may have further exposed another virus prevalent in both societies- structural racism and inequality.
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