Covid-19: Increased risk among ethnic minorities is largely due to poverty and social disparities, review finds

Most of the increased risk of infection and death from covid-19 among people from ethnic minorities is explained by factors such as occupation, where people live, their household composition, and pre-existing health conditions, a government review has concluded.1 But the first quarterly report from the government’s Race Disparity Unit (RDU), based in the Cabinet Office, notes that a part of the excess risk “remains unexplained” in some groups such as black men, and it said that further work was needed to understand which factors may be causing the disparities. The report summarises progress towards tackling covid-19 health inequalities since Public Health England published a review on 2 June setting out the disparities in risks and outcomes.2 Since then the RDU has been working with the equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, across government, with the Office for National Statistics, and with academics to examine what is driving these disparities and how to tackle them. Raghib Ali, one of the government’s new expert advisers on covid and ethnicity, said there was “good evidence” that most excess risk among ethnic minorities was explained by risk factors other than ethnicity. He told a Science Media Centre briefing on 21 October, …