Review into ethnicity and vulnerability to coronavirus

Public Health England has said that a review will analyse how factors such as ethnicity, obesity and gender can affect people’s vulnerability to coronavirus.

Thousands of health records of people who have had coronavirus will be examined by health experts to establish more ‘robust’ data on what can have an impact on the number of cases and health outcomes for different groups within the population. PHE says that this will help health leaders better understand how factors such as ethnicity, deprivation, age, gender and obesity could impact on how people are affected by the virus.

The announcement follows reports that deaths among black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups are disproportionately high. PHE said available data on health outcomes for NHS staff will also be analysed to better understand how the virus affects frontline workers.

It is likely that the findings of the PHE-led review will be published at the end of the month.

The review will be led by Prof Kevin Fenton, PHE public health director for London.

Fenton said: “Detailed and careful work is being done so that we can better understand this and explore the possible reasons for any disparities. Increasing evidence and concern around the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on black and minority ethnic groups highlights an important focus of this review. PHE is rapidly building robust data and undertaking detailed analysis to develop our understanding of the impact of this novel coronavirus on different groups which can inform actions to mitigate the risks it presents.”