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A report into why black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people may be disproportionately affected by coronavirus was published this week. The Public Health England report, called Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19, had been due to report by the end of May.

On Monday, Sky News reported sources said the delay was related to the “close proximity to the current situation in America”, where protests are flaring following the killing of a black man by a police officer.

But a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson has dismissed the claims, saying: “Ministers received initial findings yesterday.

“They are being rapidly considered and a report will be published this week. It is not true to say this has been delayed due to global events.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “BAME communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

“We need the findings of this review published and action taken now. Stop the excuses: publish the review.”

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How to read the BAME report in full

Public Health England has published a review confirming BAME people are more likely to die from COVID-19.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he vows to tackle the disproportionate risk for BAME people from COVID-19.

He said: ”People are understandably angry about injustices and as Health Secretary I feel a deep responsibility because this pandemic has exposed huge disparities in the health of our nation.”

The 89-page long review examines how coronavirus affects different demographic groups.

The report found people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death than people of white British ethnicity, while people of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, other Asian, Caribbean and black ethnicity had between 10 percent and 50 percent higher risk of death.

This is what the report says on why BAME people are much more at risk:

“People from black ethnic groups were most likely to be diagnosed.

“Death rates from COVID-19 were highest among people of black and Asian ethnic groups.

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“This is the opposite of what is seen in previous years, when the mortality rates were lower in Asian and black ethnic groups than white ethnic groups.

“Therefore, the disparity in COVID-19 mortality between ethnic groups is the opposite of that seen in previous years.

“An analysis of survival among confirmed COVID-19 cases and using more detailed ethnic groups, shows that after accounting for the effect of sex, age, deprivation and region, people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death than people of white British ethnicity.

“People of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, other Asian, Caribbean and other black ethnicity had between 10 and 50 percent higher risk of death when compared to white British.

“These analyses did not account for the effect of occupation, comorbidities or obesity.

“These are important factors because they are associated with the risk of acquiring COVID-19, the risk of dying, or both.

“Other evidence has shown that when comorbidities are included, the difference in risk of death among hospitalised patients is greatly reduced.”

On comorbidities – underlying health conditions – the report said:

“Among deaths with COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate, a higher percentage mentioned diabetes, hypertensive diseases, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and dementia than all cause death certificates.

“Diabetes was mentioned on 21 percent of death certificates where COVID-19 was also mentioned.

“This finding is consistent with other studies that have reported a higher risk of death from COVID-19 among patients with diabetes.

“This proportion was higher in all BAME groups when compared to white ethnic groups and was 43% in the Asian group and 45 percent in the black group. The same disparities were seen for hypertensive disease.

“Several studies, although measuring the different outcomes from COVID-19, report an increased risk of adverse outcomes in obese or morbidly obese people.”

Read the full Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 report. 

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