After weeks of pressure, a review into why people from ethnic minorities are “disturbingly” and by coronavirus has been launched by the Government.
Downing Street confirmed that the NHS and Public Health England will lead the review of evidence concerning the impact on people Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
The concerns come despite people from a BAME background only accounting for 13pc of the population in England and Wales, 44pc of NHS doctors and 24pc of nurses are from a BAME background.
Councillor Linda Smith, the Deputy Leader of Oxford City Council, was one who expressed concern by contacting the Health Secretary Matt Hancock to highlight the "disproportionate" impact on BAME communities.
This came following the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) finding that 34% of critically ill coronavirus patients in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were from Black or minority ethnic backgrounds.
Ms Smith wrote: ‘We would like some reassurance about what urgent monitoring is being conducted into why this is happening [and] what is being done to ensure the protection of all citizens but particularly any who are especially vulnerable, for instance through their frontline work with patients infected with Covid-19’.
She said that the "disproportionate ratio" of BAME communities being affected by Covid-19 was "particularly apparent amongst NHS staff and care-givers who have lost their lives".
Ms Smith also said residents had raised concerns that supplies of PPE "may not be sufficient" to "those working in social care, primary care, as well as non-clinical and outsourced staff in hospitals".
Leaked emails have revealed that a number of protective gowns and masks could be reused by health workers under "last resort" Public Health England (PHE) plans to preserve stocks.
The British Medical Association said that it "underlines the urgency" of protective equipment shortages but PHE said no decisions had been made.
