Coronavirus risk groups: Who is most at risk of falling ill from COVID-19?

PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND has reported there are several, more specific factors that can make you more likely to die from coronavirus than first thought. Who is most at risk of falling ill from COVID-19?

Specific groups at high risk from coronavirus have been outlined in a new report by Public Health England. Certain sections of the population have been dying at a higher rate than others, such as those from specific ethnic backgrounds and age groups. On Monday night, the Department of Health and Social Care denied reports the delay was down to official concerns of potential civil unrest linked to global anger over the death of George Floyd.

Which groups are most at risk?

If you remove age and sex, people of Bangladeshi ethnicity have twice the risk of death than people of white British ethnicity.

People aged 80 or older are 70 times more likely to die than those under 40.

Working-age men diagnosed with coronavirus are twice as likely to die as women.

The risk of dying with the virus is higher among those living in more deprived parts of the UK.

Coronavirus testing

Coronavirus: The report highlights severe inequalities between varying factors (Image: GETTY)

Coronavirus patient

Coronavirus risk groups: Several groups are more likely to die from coronavirus in the UK (Image: GETTY)

Certain occupations - security guards, taxi or bus drivers and construction workers and social care staff - are at higher risk.

Virus death rates were highest among people of Black and Asian ethnic groups when compared to white British ethnicity.

People of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, other Asian, Caribbean and other Black ethnicity had between a 10 percent and 50 percent higher risk of death when compared to white British people.

Elderly care

PHE Report: Those over 80 are particularly at risk (Image: GETTY)

Being BAME

One of the most worrying patterns that has occurred during the coronavirus crisis is the proportionally high level of people from ethnic minorities dying from the virus.

The report, from Public Health England, found that being from a BAME background puts you at higher risk of dying from coronavirus.

The PHE document, published on Tuesday, does not outline why this is - something that is being investigated.

PHE has been criticised for simply restating what other research had already found, and for failing to provide a reason or to attempt to make recommendations to tackle the issue.

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The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents Britain’s doctors, described it as “a missed opportunity” to instigate urgent action.

Professor John Newton, leader of the UK's coronavirus testing programme, said although the virus was having a worse impact on black and minority ethnic people, "that is not necessarily because of their ethnicity" and could instead be related to their job, as an example.

He said the report's findings needed to be "widely discussed before deciding exactly what needs to be done".

"The report if nothing else emphasises the complexity of what we're seeing, so really we're urging people not to jump to conclusions and institute measures which are not really justified by the data," he added.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called for a public inquiry into the findings.

Matt Hancock

BAME Report: Matt Hancock defended the report and promised to look into the findings (Image: BBC)

He said: “This report alone is not nearly enough. We need to know now why the virus disproportionately impacts these communities and crucially, what is being done to stop it."

“The Government needs to also review the impacts of their policies that have led to a hostile environment and measures like [migrants left with] ‘no recourse to public funds’.”

The UK now has proportionally one of the highest coronavirus death rates in the world per capita.

Figures released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics showed cases have been falling, but they came as University of Oxford researchers found the UK had the third-highest daily death rate internationally – 4.49 deaths per million people per day.

The figures also show there were 53,960 excess deaths in England and Wales from the start of the outbreak to May 15.

Yesterday it was announced that the weekend daily coronavirus briefings would not take place after this weekend, due to low TV ratings.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has committed to taking part in at least one briefing per week.

"From this week, the press conferences will be on weekdays only - so no longer on Saturdays and Sundays," Mr Johnson's official spokesman said.

"The prime minister will take a press conference every week.

"Others will be led by secretaries of state, alongside scientific and medical experts where relevant."