Government’s Covid-19 response discriminates against BAME and migrants groups

The UK Government's 'hostile environment' policy response to COVID-19 is harming Black, Asian and minority ethnic and migrant groups, according to global health experts led by UCL and Newcastle University. In a paper entitled, 'COVID-19: the great unequaliser', published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine , the authors discuss how the risk of contracting COVID-19, the severity of the illness and the risk of poor health, are all increased in BAME groups due to existing health and welfare policies and the actions implemented in response to  the pandemic. Lead author Dr Delan Devakumar (UCL Institute for Global Health) said: "Black, Asian and minority ethnic and migrant groups have a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 infection, as they are more likely to live in poor and overcrowded accommodation and do precarious forms of work or work in the gig economy. They are also more likely to get a severe form of the infection." At the outset of the pandemic many migrant groups, especially those without documents, have been  less likely to seek help, or may have sought help later, but only after suffering from more advanced stages of the disease, according to the authors. They argue, the UK Government's 'hostile environment' policy,  includes barriers to accessing the health service, such as upfront charging and the sharing of data with the Home Office, has led to migrants avoiding healthcare. With the UK and the world expected to enter one of the deepest recessions in a lifetime, the authors say that the poorest members of the population, who face insecure employment prospects and who are most vulnerable in terms of health, are at risk of other stress-related health problems, especially mental health issues, which increase in times of recession.