Men employed in social care have more than double the risk of death from Covid-19 as those in the general population, new figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) study reveals people working in social care, the NHS and in occupations like cleaning, construction work and security, are more likely to die with coronavirus.
Some 4,761 deaths involving Covid-19 were registered among people of working age (20 to 64) in England and Wales between March 9 and May 25, the ONS said. Nearly two-thirds of these deaths were men.
Construction workers, security guards and cleaners had some of the highest rates of death involving Covid-19, with 39.7 deaths per 100,000 males.
There were 74 deaths per 100,000 security guards - the rate - while men and women working in social care both had “significantly raised rates of death.”
These were 50.1 deaths per 100,000 men and 19.1 deaths per 100,000 women, the ONS said. This compares with 19.1 deaths involving coronavirus per 100,000 men in the general population and 9.7 deaths per 100,000 women in the general population.
Among health workers, only men had higher rates of death involving Covid-19 (30.4 deaths per 100,000 men) when compared with the general population.
However, both male and female nurses seemed to have an increased risk (50.4 deaths per 100,000 male nurses and 15.3 deaths per 100,000 female nurses).
Among women, those at higher risk of death included sales and retail assistants (15.7 deaths per 100,000 women), government administrators, and process, plant and machine operatives.
More risky professions for men were taxi drivers and chauffeurs, bus and coach drivers, chefs and sales and retail assistants.
Of the 17 occupations found to have higher rates of death involving Covid-19, 11 had higher proportions of workers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, the ONS said.
Ben Humberstone, head of health analysis and life events for the ONS, said: “There are lots of complex things playing out during the pandemic and the risk of death involving Covid-19 is influenced by a range of factors including the job someone does, but also age, ethnicity and underlying health conditions.
“We also know that people living in the most deprived local areas, and those living in urban areas such as London, have been found to have the highest rates of death involving Covid-19.
“Today’s analysis shows that jobs involving close proximity with others, and those where there is regular exposure to disease, have some of the highest rates of death from Covid-19.
“However, our findings do not prove conclusively that the observed rates of death involving Covid-19 are necessarily caused by differences in occupational exposure.”
