E-Paper
New figures show British Indians hardest hit by Covid-19 pandemic
Studies have highlighted the disproportionately adverse impact on Indian and other non-white communities, mainly due to a range of pre-existing conditions such as diabetes and heart ailments; and socioeconomic factors such as residential overcrowding and employment in low-end public-facing occupations
Covid-19 has affected the 1.5 million-strong Indian community the most among non-whites in the UK due to a combination of factors: new figures on Tuesday show their mental health was particularly affected, and in England alone, 1,105 from the community have died.
Official studies have highlighted the disproportionately adverse impact on Indian and other non-white communities, mainly due to a range of pre-existing conditions such as diabetes and heart ailments; and socio-economic factors such as residential overcrowding and employment in lower-end public facing occupations.
A new dimension was added with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) stating that the mental well-being of those in the Indian ethnic group may have been particularly affected by the pandemic as they reported both greater difficulty with sleep over worry between 2019 and the initial period of lockdown (April 2020).
The community also had higher scores than other groups on a measure of self-reported mental health difficulties. Loneliness is among the reasons mentioned in the ONS research.
Besides, according to latest figures from NHS England, patients categorised as ‘Indian’ in official records topped the list of non-white people who died from the virus: 1,105, accounting for 3 per cent of deaths by ethnicity. The Indian group was followed ‘Pakistani’, with 1,000 deaths.
The community’s death figure, however, is expected to be higher, since the NHS England figure relates to only deaths in hospitals and care-homes, excluding those in homes and other settings.
On the mental health research, Glenn Everett of ONS said: “What today’s research shows us is how the impact on different ethnic groups varies and how people’s circumstances before the pandemic could affect their experience during the first national lockdown”.
“Financial resilience was lower among Black African or Other Black households before the pandemic, for example, which would explain why these groups found it harder to manage financially during lockdown. Perhaps unsurprisingly, mental health deteriorated across most ethnic groups during lockdown but was most marked in the Indian group.”
Several Indian-origin doctors, nurses and pharmacists have succumbed to the virus during the year, besides others working in public-facing professions. Funeral agencies catering to the community have been busy during the year.
The ONS said that at the start of the UK-wide lockdown earlier in the year, across all ethnic groups, people reported an increased or persistent loss of sleep over worry.
After adjusting for age, over one-third (36%) of those from the Indian ethnic group reported this, compared with less than a quarter (23%) of White British respondents and 18% of those in the Other White ethnic groups. When comparing across the groups, respondents from the Indian ethnic group reported a greater average increase than those from the White British ethnic group (0.8).
“Taken together with the findings on loss of sleep over worry for the Indian ethnic group, this suggests that their mental well-being may have been particularly challenged by the pandemic, the ONS added.
Those of White Irish ethnicity (28%), it said, were more likely to report either continuing to feel lonely often or to experience an increase in feelings of loneliness between 2019 and April 2020 than people from White British (18%) ethnicity. Nearly a quarter of those from the Indian ethnic group (24%) also reported this.
