Black and ethnic minorities with Asian roots are 50% more likely to die of coronavirus than their British counterparts. This is according to the study published by Public Health England or PHE.
Particularly, the study found that people of Bangladeshi descent who contracted the virus were twice as likely to succumb to the virus compared to British people. Other minority groups examined for the report are people with Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, and Caribbean descent. The latter groups are 10% to 50% more at risk of dying after getting infected compared to white Britons.
As for those coming from the black ethnic groups, the discrepancy in COVID-19 infections is also telling. As per 100,000 population, 486 black females and 649 black males contract the virus. On the other hand, 220 white females and 224 white males are getting infected by the virus per 100,000 population.
The study noted that the gap could be linked to co-morbidities and other factors including their places of dwelling, workplace, and access to reliable medical facilities.
"This is because BAME [Black and minority ethnic]people are more likely to live in urban areas, in overcrowded households, in deprived areas, and have jobs that expose them to higher risk," the PHE study noted.
"People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani background have higher rates of cardiovascular disease than people from white British ethnicity, and people of black Caribbean and black African ethnicity have higher rates of hypertension compared with other ethnic groups," the report explained.
A separate report from the non-partisan APM Research Lab in the United States published in May found similar trend among African Americans and the white peers in the country.
The study, titled Color of Coronavirus, found that African Americans in the US died at a rate of 50.3 per 100,000 population. By comparison, whites died at a rate of 20.7, Latinos at a rate of 22.9, and Asian Americans at a rate of 22.7.
The study also noted that more than 20,000 African Americans or one in 2,000 succumbed to COVID-19.
The gap is also evident per US state. In Kansas, African Americans are dying seven times more than white Americans. In Washington, the gap is six times more. Deaths of black people are five times more than whites among residents of Michigan and Missouri and three times more in New York, Illinois, and Louisiana.
The report also noted co-morbidities as among the factors for the gap but it does not dismiss the fact that black Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing reliable diagnostic testing and treatment for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, data from The New York Times found that COVID-19 deaths among black and Latino New Yorkers, most especially in Queens and the Bronx, are two times more than whites and Asians.
