COVID-19: the impact on the UK's ethnic minority populations

Contributor(s): Professor Kehinde Andrews, Dr Miqdad Asaria, Professor Lucinda Platt, Ross Warwick, Professor Heidi Mirza | There is increasing concern that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in England. Over the first few weeks of the pandemic there were several anecdotal reports to suggest that there are many more cases of, hospitalisations for, and deaths due to COVID-19 than we would expect from minorities’ population shares. Drawing on new IFS research, the panel will discuss the reasons why mortality is disproportionately high for minority groups, present evidence on how some minority groups are disproportionately affected by the economic impacts of the lockdown, and recommend ways forward to limit further differential social and economic consequences.
Kehinde Andrews (@kehinde_andrews) is Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University. Kehinde is an academic, activist and author whose books include Back to Black: R