Kathmandu, May 1. Researchers have found that the South Asian minority communities in the united kingdom are most likely to suffer from the coronavirus during the second wave of COVID-19.

In the research study published in the Lancet Medical Journal, the experts have described that communities from Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi backgrounds were found to have suffered from severe illness and deaths. 

Earlier during the first wave, the Lancet had reported that all ethnic minorities were at higher risk than the white community. The first wave of Covid-19 in the UK lasted from February to September 2020.

However, during the second wave that occurred between September and December 2020, all other minority groups except for those from South Asia did better. 

According to the authors of the paper, the higher risks of getting coronavirus was linked to the fact that South Asian households were comparatively larger and more multigenerational than that of other communities. Moreover, factors such as body composition and physiology, lifestyle, and work pattern also played a role in the dynamics.

Lead author Dr. Rohini Mathur of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that multigenerational households offer valuable informal care but, these communities “must be encouraged to be vaccinated” in order to reduce transmission.

“To improve Covid-19 outcomes, we urgently need to tackle the wider disadvantage and structural racism faced by these communities, as well as improving access to care and reducing transmission,” added Mathur.

Click here to read the detailed research article entitled “Ethnic differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19-related hospitalisation, intensive care unit admission, and death in 17 million adults in England: an observational cohort study using the OpenSAFELY platform” published in The Lancet Journal on April 30, 2021.