Black men and women are more than four times more likely to die a coronavirus-related death than white people, new analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests.
Black males in England and Wales are 4.2 times more likely, while black women are 4.3 times more likely to die after contracting the virus, after accounting for age.
People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities also had an increased risk of death involving Covid-19 compared with those of white ethnicity, the ONS found.
The analysis looked at how coronavirus has affected different ethnic groups from March 2 to April 10, registered by 17 April.
As ethnicity is not recorded on death certificates, the ONS linked these to the 2011 Census which includes self-reported ethnicity.
The ONS said the results suggest that the difference is partly due to socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but some of the reasons remain unexplained.
After taking account of other factors, such as health and disability, black men and women were 1.9 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than those of white ethnicity.
