Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

Two investigations have been launched to look at whether people of black, Asian and minority background are being disproportionately affected by coronavirus.

Image source, Sylvia Douglas

One is a Labour Party inquiry to be headed by Dame Doreen Lawrence.

Public Health England is also carrying out an investigation on behalf of the government.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, Reuters

Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said the examining the affect of coronavirus on ethnic communities is "hugely important and complex".

This is a hugely important and hugely complex subject. Our data has to be very, very good," Dr Harries said.

"Even the recording of ethnicity is hugely complex.

"So, a death certificate will give the country of origin, but that may well not give anything to do with how the individual has lived their lives, the community they have lived in, and other sorts of exposure to disease they may have.

"There is a huge amount of work ongoing on this and Public Health England will be doing a very detailed review into this.

"The sort of things that will be looked at include other conditions we know that individuals from particular ethnic background suffer from.

"It is also about how people live their lives. We have very high representation in the NHS of those of BAME backgrounds.

"It may be that it is proportionate to the very high benefit that they provide to our health service in the sense that they are over represented."

BBC Future

Image source, Getty Images

Even with a virus that doesn’t respect borders, vulnerability is spread unevenly. And some of the largest disparities seen so far have involved race and ethnicity.

Early data of the Covid-19 crisis, broken down by race, is alarming. In the US, in Chicago, as of early April 2020, 72% of people who died of coronavirus were black, although only one-third of the city’s population is. In Georgia, as of 17 April, white people accounted for 40% of Covid-19 cases, external where race was reported, although they represent 58%, external of the state.

In the UK, of the first 2,249 patients with confirmed Covid-19, 35%, external were non-white. This is much higher than the proportion of non-white people in England and Wales – 14%, external, according to the most recent census.

You can read more here.

BBC London

BBC London is featuring a range of reports tonight looking at how people from BAME backgrounds might be adversely affected by Covid-19.

This one is by Tarah Welsh.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

The bosses of NHS England has been outlining to health trusts the services' latest plans and key aims to tackle Covid-19.

Image source, PA Media

In a letter, Sir Simon Stevens and Amanda Pritchard said: "In terms of wider action that will also be underway, DHSC (government health department) will be designing and establishing its new ‘Test, Track & Trace’ service.

"The leadership and resourcing of local authority public health departments will be vital.

"Trusts and primary care networks should continue to support clinicians to enrol patients in the three major phase III clinical trials now underway across the NHS, initially testing ten potential Covid-19 treatments.

"In addition, at least 112 Covid-19 vaccines are currently in development globally.

" We also expect an expanded winter flu vaccination campaign alongside a school immunisation ‘catch up programme’," they wrote.

The next phase is going to be very busy.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Among those to have become infected with coronavirus were two sisters, Esther Akinsanya and Mary Idowu.

On 11 April - and just hours apart - they were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, where they had both worked at for decades after showing symptoms.

Ms Akinsanya, who was born in Lagos in Nigeria but moved to the UK in the early 1990s, worked as a healthcare assistant, along with Mary.

Her son Samuel Akinsanya explained that despite his mother having no clear underlying health problems she succumbed to the virus and died suddenly.

"Even in her last words to me she was telling me to look out for my sister," he said. "She knew something was going on and that's what breaks my heart.

"That will always stick with me, but what has struck me since is just how well connected my mum was and how well respected she was.

"So, I need to be strong and continue her legacy."

"Her mind was colossal, but what baffled me was seeing how she deteriorated so quickly.

"I've heard a lot about ethnic minorities being affected but it should not matter what skin colour or nationality people are.

"This virus is killing people and we need to look after our NHS and can't take it for granted."

Latin Elephant, a charity based in Elephant & Castle, helps people of a Latin background integrate in London.

The charity provides Latin Americans or Hispanics in the capital help with their trade or business as well as community issues.

Due to Covid-19, the group are now virtually voicing the concerns of the Latin community, translating key information and documents relating to business, health and trading throughout the crisis.

Language barriers and access to support are particular issues.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

Image source, Getty Images

UCL epidemiologist Dr Shakti Das has told BBC London that a public health inquiry into the 2009 swine flu pandemic identified that Pakistani men and people in overcrowded areas were more prone to that virus, external.

She also highlighed language barriers, which she said have been replicated across parts of London's diverse population.

"Messages on social distancing and lockdown were lost on parts of the population," Dr Das said.

"There are cultural issues which could have been communicated better in Punjabi or other languages for example.

"We are expecting a second wave of coronavirus at some point this year and our messages need to be ready in every language."

Tolu Adeoye
Reporter, BBC London

The statistics are still being collated and two inquiries have been launched into why BAME people are disproportionately dying from Covid-19.

Image source, Kennedy family

Nurse Penny Palmer, whose bus driver father Mervyn Kennedy died from Covid-19 earlier this month, believes all key workers are being let down by a lack of PPE.

“Coronavirus doesn’t discriminate. Whatever ethnic background you come from it’s killing people. And the only thing that saves lives is PPE and it would be nice to know why bus drivers haven’t been supplied with this.

"Just honesty from the government. It would be nice to know that.

"They either don’t have enough or they forgot about bus drivers. How many more families have to grieve cos of lack of PPE? It’s not fair," she added.

“They’ve been forgotten about but not just bus drivers, it's Uber drivers, it's train drivers, it's security guards stood outside Sainsburys with no masks.

"Why are these people not being given what they need to save their lives?”

Penny and her sisters have launched a campaign, Beep for Drivers, calling for protection for drivers.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

New NHS data obtained by BBC London has revealed a breakdown of the ages of patients who have died in London hospitals from coronavirus.

London has seen nearly 5,000 deaths linked to the virus and the latest available data, from 26 April, has analysed the deaths of 4,693 patients.

Just over 1% of deaths in the capital's hospitals have been patients under the age of 39.

Unsurprisingly, people over the age of 80 make up the majority of Covid-19 deaths in the capital.

London bus driver Mervyn Kennedy was living with one of his three daughters when he developed coronavirus.

Image source, Kennedy family

He complained of feeling unwell before developing a high fever.

His daughter Penny Palmer, a pediatric nurse working in Lewisham, visited to monitor his condition and suggested her father go to hospital but he refused.

"His breathing was okay. I took a baby thermometer and my monitoring kit to check him over," Mrs Palmer said and was wearing gloves, a mask and an apron.

He was extremely weak and very dehydrated, but perked up on Saturday 4 April, the day of his 67th birthday.

By Sunday he got out of bed, his temperature and pulse were good and the fever gone, according to Mrs Palmer.

“I felt quite confident he’d overcome the worst,” she added.

But a day later he began struggling to breath and they called 999. Mr Kennedy was taken to hospital.

Speaking to him on his mobile phone in the unit, Mrs Palmer said by now he could barely talk and at 02:00 the family received a call saying he had had a cardiac arrest and that "they should expect the worse".

“My sister and I just prayed and hoped that we would get to speak to him in the morning”. they were told they could not come to the hospital.

By the afternoon an anaesthetist called and said his numbers were dropping, there was "nothing we can do".

The sisters agreed to withdraw care.

“Just to give my dad a sense of dignity. He would have suffered. Knowing my dad, he was a very proud man. He wouldn’t have wanted to suffer in the end. They switched off the life support and not long after he passed.” Mrs Palmer said.

Dr Onkar Sahota is a GP and a member of the London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon.

He believes that "sometimes the BAME nurses and doctors feel that they are being pressurised to go to the front" and wants PPE as recommended by the World Health Organisation.

"We do need to look at why the BAME communities are being affected and I think we need to be very careful we aren’t pressured on the front line without any proper equipment," he said.

Dr Sahota’s daughter is a recently qualified junior doctor and despite the risk she has chosen to work on one of London’s busiest coronavirus wards, in intensive care.

"Minute by minute I find it really hard, but in terms of a bigger picture, I want to do it.

"You know when asked after all this is over, I’ll have to say what did you do?

"Did you give everything you could and that was the pressure I felt. It wasn’t anyone else," said Dr Shaan Sahota.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Hounslow councillors have made a video in multiple languages to inform their black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities during the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative by councillor Hanif Khan, who is also the authority’s transport boss, was prompted by findings that ethnic minorities have been disproportionately hit by the deadly virus.

“What hit me was the first ten doctors that died were from BAME background. For me that really struck a chord – it is happening, why is it happening? And what is our duty of care?” cllr Khan said.

“Our BAME community in Hounslow not only work in NHS and social care but in transport, as bus drivers, taxi drivers, shop keepers, in supermarkets, all of which are necessary services to be provided in the lockdown”.

“To the BAME community, please stay at home, only go out for emergencies, protect yourself and loved ones”.

The Labour member received video messages from 29 colleagues which was put into a four-minute Youtube clip to show solidarity with the communities that are estimated to make up at least 51% of the borough’s population.

Councillors also conveyed the message in several languages including English, Punjabi, Nepalese, Hindi and Urdu.

Tolu Adeoye
Reporter, BBC London

Earlier we heard from the daughter of bus driver Mervyn "Mally" Kennedy from Croydon,who died from Covid-19.

Image source, Kennedy family

Penny Palmer tells us more about her devoted father.

“My dad in a nutshell was a very kind, selfless man. Always willing to give his family everything he had.

"He’s the type of grandfather that would visit and give each child £20 for no good reason when he came to visit."

Mr Kennedy came to this country in 1999, from Zimbabwe, following the recommendation of his eldest daughter who was already in the UK.

Penny's parents had a good lifestyle in Zimbabwe, owning their own home and business but the political situation was changing.

“When they came over it was a hard hit, always at work, so in family terms we hardly got to see them as they worked alternate shifts. But that was what my dad was, he was a provider.

“He made sure had what we needed. They made quite a sacrifice for us which we appreciate."

In 2004 his wife Patricia died of pneumonia and her dying words to him were to look after their three girls and "make sure you complete your (bus) driver training".

"I know he did like his job. A lot of the time he used to say ‘I like driving the bus cos it gives me the time to think’.

"Always smiling, always winking….letting you know he was okay," Mrs Palmer added.

Tolu Adeoye
Reporter, BBC London

Nurse Penny Palmer from London has criticised the lack of PPE equipment for bus drivers after her 67-year-old father, Mervyn "Mally" Kennedy died from the virus on 7 April.

Image source, Kennedy family

Mr Kennedy worked as a London bus driver for 16 years.

"I’m not putting blame on anybody but I do know that bus drivers are at major risk and my dad wasn’t protected.

"Before he took ill I asked him 'have they given you any protection at work?' "

"And he said ‘yeah a pair of gloves’.

"I said ‘dad gloves are not going to protect you’ and then I managed to get him a mask and hand sanitiser.

"I found the mask still brand new in his pocket and I know he never used the mask, 'cos at the time he was at work it was never a major concern.

"The powers that be were not very forceful in terms of them wearing PPE," Mrs Palmer claimed.

Claire Mann, TfL’s Director of Bus Operations, said:“We are all utterly devastated that Mervyn Kennedy has died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"The safety of London’s bus drivers, who are all helping other critical workers tackle coronavirus, is our absolute priority.

"We have already delivered enhanced cleaning of all buses, improved social distancing for drivers and have made their cabs better protected."

More to follow.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News

Black, Asian and ethnic minority, (BAME) NHS staff should be treated as being more at risk from Covid-19, according to a leaked letter sent to health trust bosses yesterday.

The letter from Sir Simon Stevens, who oversees a £120 billion of annual funding for England said emerging data suggested that BAME people are among groups "being disproportionately affected by Covid19".

Sir Simon said "...as a precaution we recommend employers should risk-assess staff at potentially greater risk & make appropriate arrangements accordingly".

In London black and other ethnic minority individuals make up a large share of jobs considered essential in tackling the virus.

One in five people working for the NHS in England, for example, is from an ethnic minority background, however these numbers are even higher when we look solely at doctors and nurses.

Epidemiologist Dr Shikta Das believed one factor was that ethnic minorities were over-represented in many key worker industries and were at a greater risk of becoming infected.

"Viral load is how much you are exposed to an infectious disease," she explained.

"Twenty per cent of all NHS workforce are from an ethnic minority background. The figure for doctors is 44%.

Tarah Welsh
BBC London

Tonight BBC London is devoting its 18:30 programme to look at why the black, Asian minority ethnic (BAME) communities appear to be suffering more from Covid-19.

Below is an extract from a report by Tarah Welsh to be featured on this evening's show.

Many parts of London have been eerily quiet for several weeks now.

So as I drove in to Harlesden High Road at 06:40 I was surprised to see so many people waiting at bus stops.

Most were wearing masks, they were standing at a social distance, but, this became much more difficult when buses arrived and a group of 10 or more people would have to get on.

I met carer, Marva Johnson, 55, at one of the bus stops at 07:00.

She felt comfortable travelling on the double decker buses but said that the smaller ones were often “packed”, which was a big worry for her.

She told me she had to continue to work six days a week as people were relying on her to care for them and her family were depending on her income.

Marva’s story was echoed by many I spoke to that morning.

Despite trying to carry on as normal, some people were scared. They knew they were putting them selves at higher risk of potentially catching Covid 19 but didn’t have any other option.

Brent’s neighbour, Harrow is the joint worst place in the UK for Coronavirus death rates.

Brent follows closely behind. 286 people have died with Covid 19 in this borough up to the week ending April 17th (Source:ONS, external).

The death rate is almost three times higher than in Kingston where 54 people have died in the same time period.

I pulled into Kingston town centre at midday, it was fairly empty, except for the odd cyclist and family out on their daily exercise.

Kingston is relatively affluent. The median income is £33,581. Over £7,000 more than in Brent (£26,346) according to ONS data.

With more people in professional roles, rather than in front line key worker roles, it’s arguably easier for them to work from home or stay at home while furloughed.

This simply isn’t possible for the scores of men and women I saw waiting at the bus stops in Harlesden.

London is complex and a borough can be rich and poor on different sides of a road.

But on the whole, we are seeing poor areas registering more deaths.

That’s worrying for so many still going out to work because, like Marva, they have “no choice”.

Thomas Mackintosh
BBC London News

New NHS data has revealed ethnic breakdowns among the patients in London hospitals who have died with coronavirus.

Black people account for 13% of the city's population but 16% of deaths.

Epidemiologist Dr Shikta Das said there was a high rate of ethnic minority people among front line workers, who were exposed to greater risk.

But Dr Das said it was difficult to draw conclusions as data needed to be more specific to areas of London.

London has seen nearly 5,000 deaths linked to the virus.

NHS data, obtained by the BBC, analysed 3,929 deaths by ethnicity and showed a disproportionate number of black people had died from Covid-19 in London hospitals.

The majority of the patients that died - 55% - were from a white background, but white people make up a larger proportion of the capital's population. Similarly, proportionately fewer Asian people died with coronavirus.

Full story

Sam Francis
BBC News, London

Some of London's boroughs with lower income and higher levels of deprivation are reporting higher rates of deaths linked to coronavirus.

We don’t know what the socio-economic differences are in rates of new infection as testing was, until recently, limited to only the sickest patients in hospitals and key workers.

But data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that the areas with the highest rates of registered deaths linked to coronavirus tend to be in boroughs with lower median wages.

Harrow, the borough worst affected by coronavirus, has a relatively high median wages for London.

But below that, the nine of next 10 worst affected boroughs are all in the bottom half of median earnings across London.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC News, London

Today our live stream looks at the impact of coronavirus on the capital's black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) populations.

There is a growing suggestion that these groups may be disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

The statistics are very complex, but we are endeavouring to bring you more information as to how and, perhaps why, these communities might be more impacted.

The seemingly high proportion of BAME people contracting and dying from this disease is of concern to many including the health service.

Stay with us while we bring you Londoners' own tales and expert opinion for the reasons behind the figures.

BBC London News will also be looking at this issue in depth tonight at 18:30 on BBC One. You can watch in full on iPlayer after transmission