Hindus and Muslim men have had a disproportionately high risk of dying with coronavirus throughout the pandemic compared with Christians, figures suggest.

After adjusting for age, location, socio-demographic factors and certain pre-existing health conditions, Hindus and Muslim men were still more likely to die with Covid-19, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The ONS looked at mortality rates among religious groups between January 2020 and February 2021 and compared differences between both waves of the pandemic, adjusting these for age and other factors.

It defined the second wave as deaths occurring from September 12 2020 onwards, but noted that this analysis is provisional as it only covers up to February 28 2021.

It found that Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Jewish people all had an increased Covid-19 mortality rate compared with Christians across the whole period when adjusting for age.

People who identified as having no religion were 20% less likely to die than the Christian group.

When taking into account location, measures of disadvantage, occupation and living arrangements, and pre-pandemic health status, rates for Jewish and Sikh women were similar to those for Christian women.

But rates for Muslims, Hindus, and Jewish and Sikh men remained significantly higher.

Muslim men were 70% more likely to die with Covid-19 than Christian men, the ONS analysis found.

Muslim women had a 30% greater risk of dying with coronavirus, while for Hindu men it was 30% and for Hindu women it was 20%.

Jewish men had a 20% greater risk and Sikh men a 10% greater risk.

For Jewish and Buddhist men, the excess risk was only observed in the first wave.

Excess risk for Sikhs and Muslim women was only observed in the second wave.

The ONS said the factors it adjusted for account for a large proportion, but not all, of the additional risk.

The residual unexplained risk may be due to factors it did not consider, such as some pre-existing health conditions.

For some religious groups there is considerable overlap with ethnic background, meaning it is difficult to separate any association between risk and religion from risk and ethnicity.

Credit: PA News

India’s crematoria and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of coronavirus infections tearing through the country, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting to see doctors.

For the fourth straight day, on Sunday India set a global daily record of new infections, spurred by the emergence of a new variant that has undermined the government’s premature claims of victory over the pandemic.

The 349,691 confirmed cases over the past day took India’s total to more than 16.9 million, behind only the United States.

The Health Ministry reported another 2,767 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing India’s Covid-19 fatalities to 192,311.

Experts say that toll could be a huge undercount, as suspected cases are not included, and many deaths from the infection are being attributed to underlying conditions.

The crisis unfolding in India is most visceral in its graveyards and crematoria, and in heartbreaking images of gasping patients dying on their way to hospital due to lack of oxygen.

Burial grounds in the Indian capital, New Delhi, are running out of space and bright, glowing funeral pyres light up the night sky in other badly hit cities.

In central Bhopal city, some crematoria have increased their capacity from dozens of pyres to more than 50, but officials said there are still long waits.

At the Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium, workers said they cremated more than 110 people on Saturday, even as government figures in the city with a population of 1.8 million put the total number of deaths at just 10.

“The virus is swallowing our city’s people like a monster,” said Mamtesh Sharma, an official at the site.

The unprecedented rush of bodies has forced the crematorium to abandon individual ceremonies and rituals that Hindus believe release the soul from the cycle of rebirth.

“We are just burning bodies as they arrive,” said Mr Sharma. “It is as if we are in the middle of a war.”

The head gravedigger at New Delhi’s largest Muslim cemetery, where 1,000 people have been buried during the pandemic, said more bodies are arriving now than last year.

“I fear we will run out of space very soon,” said Mohammad Shameem.

The situation is equally grim at unbearably full hospitals, where desperate people are dying in queues, sometimes on the roads outside, waiting to see doctors.

Health officials are scrambling to expand critical care units and stock up on dwindling supplies of oxygen. Hospitals and patients alike are struggling to procure scarce medical equipment that is being sold at inflated prices.

The crisis is in direct contrast with government claims that “nobody in the country was left without oxygen” in a statement made at Delhi High Court on Saturday by India’s Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta.

The breakdown is a stark failure for a country whose prime minister declared victory over Covid-19 in January, and which boasted of being the “world’s pharmacy”, a global producer of vaccines and a model for other developing nations.

Caught off guard by the latest deadly spike, the federal government has asked industrialists to increase the production of oxygen and other life-saving drugs in short supply. But health experts said India had an entire year to prepare for the inevitable – and failed to do so.

Dr Krutika Kuppalli, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the Indian government has been “very reactive to this situation rather than being proactive”.

She said the government should have used the last year, when the virus was more under control, to develop plans to address a surge and “stockpiled medications and developed public-private partnerships to help with manufacturing essential resources in the event of a situation like this”.

“Most importantly, they should have looked at what was going on in other parts of the world and understood that it was a matter of time before they would be in a similar situation,” Dr Kuppalli said.

She called the government’s premature declarations of victory over the pandemic a “false narrative”, which encouraged people to relax health measures when they should have continued strict adherence to physical distancing, wearing masks and avoiding large crowds.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing mounting criticism for allowing Hindu festivals and attending mammoth election rallies that experts suspect accelerated the spread of infections.

His Hindu nationalist government is trying to quell critical voices.

On Saturday, Twitter complied with the government’s request and prevented people in India from viewing more than 50 tweets that appeared to criticise the administration’s handling of the pandemic. The targeted posts include tweets from opposition ministers critical of Mr Modi, journalists and ordinary Indians.

A Twitter spokesman said it has powers to “withhold access to the content in India only” if the company determines the content to be “illegal in a particular jurisdiction”.

The company said it had responded to an order by the government and notified people whose tweets were withheld.

India’s Information Technology ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

A rapping jihadi bought an 18in sword as he plotted a terror attack in the midst of the pandemic, a court has heard.

Before his arrest on July 9 last year, Sahayb Abu, 27, purchased online two blades, a combat vest, two balaclavas, fingerless gloves and a combat-style hat, the Old Bailey was told.

He is on trial alongside his brother Muhamed Abu, 32, who allegedly knew he was planning an act of terrorism but failed to report it.

Prosecutor John McGuinness QC said the brothers supported the aims of so-called Islamic State (IS) and rapped to each other of their extremist beliefs.

On June 17 last year, Muhamed Abu rapped: “Let’s get merky, let’s get hurty, I’ve got bombs that are just worthy…”

Mr McGuinness said that “merky” was slang for killing or injuring someone.

A minute later, Sahayb Abu rapped: “Got my under armour on, cos I gotta stay strong….

“I’ll be sending bombs and you’ll be getting smoked…and you’re just like an ant and you’ll be getting crushed under my boot…”

On June 28, Sahayb Abu posted a recording of himself singing: “No matter the way the wind blows, I will always be down with my bros, I will always be ready to eliminate the foes…”

Over three months before his arrest, Sahayb Abu allegedly made 110 searches for IS.

Last June, he also searched the internet for embassies, including the US, Russian and Israeli embassies in London, jurors heard.

When interviewed by police, Sahayb Abu denied being a supporter of IS.

He told police he got a smaller knife to fix a kitchen sink and the 18in blade because it “looked cool”.

He had the combat vest, balaclavas, gloves and hat because he parodied rap or drill videos, he said.

Any searches online for IS videos were to find out what had happened to two of his other brothers, who had been reported as having travelled to join IS and were thought to be either dead or missing, he said.

Chat on a Telegram group called Servants of the Unseen was an attempt to show off to women, he said.

Muhamed Abu denied he had any knowledge of a plan to commit a terrorist attack in the UK by his brother Sahayb or anyone else.

He told the police that IS was “a cancer, a tumour that needed to be excised from the face of the earth”.

Mr McGuinness countered the defendants’ claim not to be “anti-British” by telling jurors of an incident three years before.

On October 13 2017, in Ilford, east London, they put up posters of a red poppy headed: “Britain uses your tax money to kill Muslims in Muslim lands!”, the court heard.

Sahayb Abu, of South Norwood, south-east London, denies preparation of terrorist acts.

Muhamed Abu, of Dagenham, east London, denies failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism.

Read more: Brothers to face trial over terror plot

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.”

Americans have marked a Memorial Day like no other as the coronavirus pandemic forced communities to honour the nation’s military dead with smaller, more subdued ceremonies.

On the weekend that marks the unofficial start of summer, US authorities warned beach-goers to heed social distancing rules to avoid a resurgence of the disease.

Covid-19 has infected 5.4 million people worldwide and killed more than 345,000, including nearly 100,000 Americans, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Memorial Day commemorations were cancelled or toned down across the country.

Veterans, along with nursing home residents, have made up a significant portion of those who died in the US outbreak.

The 37,000 American flags traditionally placed on the Boston Common to honour Massachusetts military members who died in service were replaced with just 1,000 flags to limit volunteers and onlookers.

Fallen military members were honoured in New York City with car convoys and small ceremonies this year rather than parades to conform with lockdown restrictions.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made his first in-person appearance in more than two months by laying a wreath at a veterans park near his Delaware home.

He wore a face mask as he and his wife bowed their heads in silence. He saluted and could be heard saying: “Never forget.”

Mr Biden told reporters: “I feel great to be out here.””

He also yelled to a group standing nearby: “Thank you for your service.”

After two days of playing golf, US president Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery.

Presidents typically lay a wreath and deliver a speech at the hallowed burial ground in Virginia but because of the pandemic, which is expected to claim its 100,000th American victim this week, the ceremony looked different this year.

Many attendees arrived wearing masks but removed them for the outdoor ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

He approached a wreath already in place, touching it and giving a salute.

Mr Trump later spoke at Baltimore’s historic Fort McHenry, where he noted tens of thousands of service members and national guard personnel are currently “on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus”.

He also said: “Together we will vanquish the virus and America will rise from this crisis to new and even greater heights.

“No obstacle, no challenge and no threat is a match for the sheer determination of the American people.”

Tens of thousands of Americans still headed to beaches and parks, relieved to shake off some pandemic restrictions.

Dr Deborah Birx, co-ordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said she was “very concerned” about scenes of people crowding together.