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"The data indicates that genes are around 50 per cent responsible for how badly infected people suffer from certain symptoms. In particular, it showed a strong genetic link to delirium, fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhoea and the loss of taste and smell.”…
4/20/20, “BAME [Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic] patients face disproportionately high risk of death from coronavirus, new data shows," UK Telegraph, Henry Bodkin
“Those who identified as being of Indian heritage made up worst affected group, accounting for three per cent of Covid-19 hospital deaths”
“Black, Asian and minority ethnic patients face a disproportionately high risk of death from coronavirus, new data showed as officials announced the lowest daily death toll for a fortnight.
The statistics emerged three days after the Government ordered a review into why BAME patients appear to be disproportionately vulnerable to the virus.”…
[“The first ten doctors to die from coronavirus were all from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds….The latest mortality figures showed more BAME health workers have died in recent days from suspected Covid-19, including a nurse and mother-of-five Josiane Zauma Ebonja Ekoli, aged 55, and.”…4/15/20, UK Telegraph ]
Those who identified themselves as being of Indian heritage made up the single worst affected group, accounting for three per cent of Covid-19 hospital deaths, with those from the Caribbean the next largest group, accounting for 2.9 per cent....
Given that the lag between a person becoming infected with Covid-19 and deteriorating to a state where they might die can take three weeks, the figures could indicate that transmission of the virus in the community peaked before the lockdown began on March 23.
"The peak of deaths occurred on April 8, and if you understand that then you work backwards to find the peak of infections," he said. "That would be 21 days before then, right before the point of lockdown.
"Fifty per cent reductions in infections occurred on March 16, right when hand-washing and social distancing were introduced. If you look at what's happening in Sweden, they are holding their nerve and they haven't had a doomsday scenario. Our Government has got it completely the wrong way around."
Prof Hennegan also pointed to data showing that the rate of Britons with upper respiratory tract infections dropped from 20 per 100,000 people on March 15 to around 12 per 100,000 just six days later.
He added that, although these cases may not relate solely to coronavirus, they could be an indicator.
Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, a statistician at the University of Cambridge, said Monday night's mortality data indicates "a steadily, but rather slowly, improving position since the peak of deaths 12 days ago on April 8". He added: "Judging from the experience in Italy, this could be a lengthy process."
Despite only accounting for 13 per cent of the population in England and Wales, 44 per cent of all NHS doctors and 24 per cent of nurses are from a BAME background. Of the 54 frontline health and social care workers in England and Wales that have died from Covid-19, 70 per cent were black or from an ethnic minority.
The British Medical Association has called for the ethnicities of all staff killed by the virus to be published on a daily basis."
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Added: "Those who identified as being of Indian heritage made up the single worst affected group."
4/27/20, “Genes determine how severely people get coronavirus, study finds,” UK Telegraph, Henry Bodkin
“New research could explain why black, Asian and minority ethnic patients face disproportionately high risk of death from virus.”
"Genes determine how badly people suffer from coronavirus, a pioneering study that could explain why ethnic minority patients are worse affected has found.
Research by King’s College London also suggests that genetic make-up may influence a person’s chances of catching the virus in the first place.
The findings come from data submitted to a symptom tracking app that has been downloaded by 2.7 million people since it was launched on March 24 and an existing study comprising 2,600 twins.
The data indicates that genes are around 50 per cent responsible for how badly infected people suffer from certain symptoms. In particular, it showed a strong genetic link to delirium, fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhoea and the loss of taste and smell.NHS England figures released last week confirmed that black, Asian and minority ethnic patients face a disproportionately high risk of death from Covid-19.
Of the patients in hospital who tested positive for coronavirus up to April 17, 16.2 per cent were of BAME background despite these communities making up only around 13 per cent of the total population.
Those who identified as being of Indian heritage made up the single worst affected group, accounting for three per cent of Covid-19 hospital deaths, with those from the Caribbean the next largest group, at 2.9 per cent.
Professor Tim Spector, who led the King's College London research, said this could be either because some of these groups are more likely to suffer underlying health conditions such as diabetes, which increases the risk from the virus, or down to a more direct genetic predisposition.
"We've only started asking about race in the last few days," he said. "It's quite possible that genetic variants in, for example, Asian people could play a role in both the susceptibility to and severity of the disease. However, that won't be the whole answer."
It is hoped the findings could provide scientists with an indication on how to go about developing treatments, as well as helping to identify high-risk groups.
Prof Spector suggested that people's diet, and in turn the health of their microbiome, linked to the immune system, could be influencing how susceptible they are to Covid-19. He said this could explain why poorer areas appeared to be more badly hit.
The Covid-19 Symptom Tracker app is helping inform scientists about the progression of the virus, although the number actually using it fell by almost 75 per cent earlier this month.
However, an analysis of the data published on April 8 suggests that the coronavirus lockdown is working, with the number of people aged 20-69 reporting symptoms falling from 1.9 million then to 1.4 million across the UK.
"The peak in terms of symptoms was April 1, since then falling steadily at about seven per cent a day,” said Prof Spector. "It isn't just about the classic symptoms, fever and cough, which were the criteria for formal testing – it’s actually much wider.
"It's using all the data to give us a really good picture of what's going on around the country.""
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