Language barriers or being less likely to seek medical help may be why non-white people are more likely to die with coronavirus, an expert has said.

Dr Lee Smith, Reader in Physical Activity and Public Health at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), points out that many Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in the UK experience above average levels of poverty and household overcrowding.

But even when these socio-economic factors are accounted for, the risk of dying from Covid-19 is still almost as twice as high for black people than other groups.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) looked at deaths in England and Wales between March 2 and April 17, where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.

They then linked those to census data to get the self-reported ethnicity of those who died.

Of the 12,805 deaths included in the analysis, 2,079 were people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

There had been 348 deaths of black men aged over 65, and 105 among younger black men. For black women, there were 233 deaths of those aged over 65, and 80 for those aged under.

When taking into account age in the analysis, black men are 4.2 times more likely to die from a Covid-19-related death and black women are 4.3 times more likely than white men and women.

Even if you take into account other socio-demographic characteristics and measures of self-reported health and disability from the census data, the risk is 1.9 times higher for black people.

Dr Smith added: “It is known that many BAME communities in the UK experience above average levels of poverty and household overcrowding, and this may play a part.

“And it could potentially be owing to subsets of this population being less likely to seek medical help if ill, or language barriers existing in certain communities meaning that advice and information about COVID-19 is not reaching everyone.

“This, combined with higher levels of chronic illness, or co-morbidities, may put subsets of this population in a higher risk category for Covid-19 related mortality.

“However, more scientific research is needed to properly understand the underlying reasons behind these extremely worrying statistics.”

Looking at the data after adjustments for age, deprivation and health, shows that those in other ethnic minority groups are also at a higher risk of dying.

The data included 386 deaths of people from Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds – 257 men and 139 women.

For those from these backgrounds, the risk of a Covid-19-related death was 1.6 times higher for women and 1.8 times higher for men than for white people.

The discrepancy was still there for those from Indian backgrounds, although it is smaller, at 1.4 times higher for women (224 deaths) and 1.3 times higher for men (268 deaths).

For those from multiple ethnic backgrounds, the risk of dying a Covid-19-related death was similar to that of white people – around three per cent higher.

The figures include 60 deaths of men from multiple ethnic backgrounds and 34 deaths of women.

There were also 41 deaths of men from Chinese backgrounds, with the group having an 18 per cent higher risk of dying than white men, and 18 deaths of women from Chinese backgrounds, with a 25 per cent lower risk.