There have been disproportionate rates of premature death from Covid-19 among patients of Asian and black ethnicity, a large cohort study has found.

The research, published in the journal BMJ Open, is based on nearly 1,800 patients admitted to five acute hospitals within Barts Health NHS Trust between January 1 and May 13 2020.

The study found that patients from minority ethnic backgrounds were younger and less frail, compared with white patients.

It also showed that black patients were 1.8 times, and Asian patients 1.54 times, more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and need mechanical ventilation.

Study author Dr Yize Wan, clinical lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and specialty registrar in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: “Our study shows the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on black and Asian groups in the first peak.

“Black and Asian people admitted to Barts Health hospitals with Covid-19 were significantly younger in age, had greater acute disease severity, and higher mortality relative to white patients of the same age and baseline health.

“As the impact of Covid-19 continues to be seen within our community, the importance of responding to the ethnic disparities unmasked during the Covid-19 pandemic is crucial to prevent entrenching and inflicting them on future generations.”

The clinicians looked at the data from 1,737 patients aged 16 and over who were admitted to hospital and had a confirmed Covid-19 diagnosis, 511 of whom died 30 days later.

The cohort comprised 538 (31%) Asian patients, 340 (20%) black patients, and 707 (40%) from white backgrounds.

Black and Asian ethnicity patients were significantly younger – with median ages of 64 and 59 respectively – compared with 73 in the white group, the researchers said.

In addition, both groups were found to be at 50%–80% increased risk of receiving mechanical ventilation in ICU, compared with white patients of a similar age.

After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, obesity, smoking and frailty, the researchers found that, compared with those from white backgrounds, Asian patients were 1.49 times, and black patients 1.3 times, more likely to die from Covid-19.

The experts said that while their study had a large number of patients, they were unable to get a more detailed ethnicity breakdown.

They said further research is needed to understand the reasons why those from Asian and black backgrounds have higher mortality from Covid-19 infection.

First author Dr Vanessa Apea, a consultant physician in sexual health and HIV at Barts Health NHS Trust and honorary senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, said: “Authentic community-based participatory research to understand the drivers of these differences, and co-creation of solutions are key to achieving health equity in these communities.”

Pictures showing the injuries to an Asian man have emerged after he was attacked a few days ago at a BP garage on Herringthorpe Valley Road in Rotherham.

In the attack, the Asian man was said to have lost part of his finger as he was repeatedly punched in the early hours of Saturday morning on the 27th of February 2016. The injury was caused by what was described as a meat cleaver and the victim was attacked by a white male of tall build. He could not provide a description of the second individual involved.

The victim received medical attention in hospital after the attack and was in a stable condition.

Rotherham has become a focal point of far right activities and with community tensions and perceptions affected by the recent grooming scandal that has rocked the small town. More recently, South Yorkshire police have stepped up patrols after the verdict on the Rotherham grooming gang with a view to providing re-assurance to communities and ensuring a visible presence.

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Two Asian males were assaulted in the grounds of the Asda supermarket in the Dalton area of Rotherham yesterday. The attack was particularly violent and Tell MAMA has spoken to one of the victims today as he made his way to the hospital after a brutal assault on the young man as he simply walked out of the Asda store after buying his lunch.

This is a short transcript of some of the details of the assault on the young man of Pakistani heritage:

“I was shopping in Asda around mid-day yesterday with my young brother and we bought some food and some cans of baked beans. I was holding the crate of food and we decided that we needed to get some money out of the cash machine before we left the supermarket. I withdrew the money and took back the crate from my brother and noticed that there was a young white male with two females, parked very close to my car.

As I walked to the my vehicle, I noticed the young white male make statements against another Asian male in the car park who drove off looking rather irritated. I thought nothing of it, though as I got close to my car, I also noticed that there was another white male who came out of the entrance to Asda and who was shouting at me.  He kept saying “what are you laughing at” and got more and more aggressive as he approached me. Whilst doing so, he also put on a glove and I took that to be that he was going to assault me.

I put down the crate in an effort to try and defend myself but the assault on me started and continued with the aggressive white male perpetrator getting me into a headlock. It was then that I noticed that I was being attacked by the second male I had seen next to my vehicle and by this time I had curled up into a ball onto the ground as they continued to assault and kick me.

What followed was then brutal. The perpetrators picked up my cans of food and started to throw them at my head. One of them hit me in the head with significant force and cans were being continuously thrown at me which could have caused me a serious head injury.

I remember threats being made against my younger brother and racially motivated hate speech being voiced by the attackers. They clearly were looking to target someone who was Asian and they found a target in me.

It was only because of the actions of the supermarket security guard that probably saved me from very serious injury as he came to my defence and pushed the attackers apart. Finally, what is also sad is that the females in the vehicle moved the vehicle whilst I was being attacked so that the group could make a get away. They were accomplices in this.”

Another day and another racially aggravated hate crime in the small town of Rotherham. Some within the Asian community say that Rotherham has become ‘the flashpoint’ for race hatred after the grooming scandal. Only time will tell whether things continue to get worse or better.

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