Coronavirus: COVID-19 more likely to kill black and Asian people

People of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are more likely to die from the Coronavirus Disease 2019, or Covid-19, a new study finds. In the largest Covid-19 study conducted by any country to date, researchers analysed health records of over 17.4 million UK adults to identify factors that increase the risk of Covid-19 death.

Covid-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2). On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 as a pandemic after outbreaks in 114 countries killing thousands. As of 9 May 2020, over 4 million people worldwide have contracted Covid-19 with over 275 thousand casualties. So far, Covid-19 has killed at least 31,587 people in the UK, the second-largest tally in the world.

9 in 10 UK Covid-19 deaths occur in people aged over 60 years. Furthermore, men seem to be at a higher risk to Covid-19 with 60% deaths. Data show that Covid-19 disproportionately affects ethnic minority groups, but it’s not clear why. Therefore, researchers established death risks by linking GP records and to patients who are hospitalised from Covid-19. The OpenSAFELY analytic platform enabled the linkage between hospital and GP data.