Dr Hilary Jones has explained the possible reasons why British Asians are nearly five times more likely to be infected with coronavirus.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that individuals identifying as Asian or Asian British were 4.8 times more likely to test positive for Covid-19 on a swab test than people of white ethnicity.
The figure is based on nose and throat swabs taken during the most recent eight-week period of the study (8 June to 2 August 2020).
Over this period, seven out of 1,510 Brits identifying as Asian swabbed positive for Covid-19 — a rate of around 0.46 per cent.
In comparison, the rate was 0.12 per cent for white people.
Speaking to Adil Ray and Kate Garraway about the report, Dr Hilary said: "We've known for some time that BAME groups are more susceptible to the virus.
"They are transmitting the virus between themselves more readily, and it's thought to be due to various factors.
"First of all, language difficulties. Epidemiologist are saying that because of the failure to communicate the public health messages, those messages aren't getting across to certain groups.
"But also poverty is a major factor. The fact that inter-generational living is quite common, so you've got very young people living with grandparents, and large numbers of people in the same household increases the risk.
"Also, there are certain pre-existing conditions such as type two diabetes which makes the risk greater.
"I think roles and jobs which put them in public facing roles increases the exposure to the virus potentially as well.
"There are lots of factors. We don't fully understand if there is any genetic link between Covid-19 and their risk, but it is certainly exposing public health inequalities across the country and explaining parts of the reasons why we're seeing lockdown in certain areas."
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