More deprived areas of England are impacted worse by Covid-19, new data shows
New data from a study by the Office for National Statistics shows that lower socio-economic areas in England have been, and still are, affected more by Covid-19 than more well-off areas.
The graph above shows that there were significantly more deaths due to Covid-19 in more deprived areas than more advantaged areas. At worst, deaths in these areas were over double the deaths in less deprived areas in April of 2020 — at 982 deaths and 432 deaths respectively.
The report also states that residents of the most deprived areas in the UK suffered more from long Covid — the colloquial term for experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 — after the main infection period. Some 2.5% of people living in the most deprived areas reported experiencing long Covid, whilst only 1.6% of those in the least deprived areas reported the same.
Commenting on the report Professor Dame Carol Propper, of Imperial College, said the effects of the pandemic have “disproportionately hit people on lower incomes and those from minority backgrounds and this risks further exacerbating existing health inequalities”.
Additionally, the report found that people living in more deprived areas of England were more hesitant to receive a Covid-19 vaccination — 8% of people in areas of the highest deprivation reported that they were hesitant to get vaccinated, and only 2% of people in the least deprived areas said the same.
The English Indices of Deprivation (IoD) defines deprivation through seven domains: Income, Employment, Education, Health, Crime, Barriers to Housing & Services, and Living Environment. Deprivation of an area is officially defined by an area’s placement on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
