Today, Public Health England released a report, “Disparities in the risk and outcomes of Covid-19”. This was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care and looked into inequalities relating to the coronavirus.
Responding to the report, Munira said:
“The findings from the report showing that BAME people are being disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis are incredibly worrying and confirm what was tragically already obvious. Many of the consequences of the pandemic are exacerbated by the existing inequalities in our society, yet this report does little to address those issues.
People from BAME communities, due to socio-economic inequalities and health inequalities, face an increased risk of contracting the virus. However, this report has failed to analyse those important issues and fails to provide proper recommendations. We need urgent action from the Government to stem the tide of the disproportionate number of BAME people losing their lives to coronavirus.
The Government must come forward and explain what it will do to try and tackle the factors contributing to this inequality. We know that people from BAME groups make up a significant percentage of those working on the frontline and in other key worker roles, yet this Government has utterly failed to properly protect them from the virus. Ensuring they have proper protective equipment and access to testing would be a good place to start.”