Government concerned about high infection and high mortality among Norwegian Pakistanis – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

Together with Health Minister Bent Høie (H) and the two Norwegian-Pakistani superiors Sheraz Yaqub and Memona Majida, Raja held a separate press conference targeting the Norwegian-Pakistani communities on Thursday evening.

The press conference was held partly in Urdu and partly in Norwegian.

– We do not do this to stigmatize a group, but because we are very concerned that the infection is very high in this group, said Raja during the press conference.

Higher mortality

Chief Physician Sheraz Yaqub of the University Hospital of Oslo says there are many indications that the COVID-19 infection affects people with a history of the Indian subcontinent more than others.

A British study showed that COVID-19 patients with this history had a mortality rate 20 percent higher than the majority population, although underlying diseases were taken into account. Those admitted to the hospital were also on average twelve years younger than patients in the majority population.

He also noted that 36 percent of all those infected in Norway, and 39 percent of those admitted to hospital, were born outside of Norway. Patients are also younger, up to twelve years, than the majority population. This is especially true for first-generation immigrants from Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, and Turkey.

“Given this knowledge, Norwegian Pakistanis must be very careful to comply with infection control rules,” Yaqub said.

Immediate action

On Tuesday, the government introduced a series of immediate measures to reduce infection among foreign-born people. A group of experts has proposed 29 measures to reduce the infection. This includes measures such as:

• Multilingual Crown Telephone
• Notification service to the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority on non-compliance with infection control
• Voluntary mass testing experiments in areas with a high concentration of infection
• Evaluate financial compensation plans for people who have not earned the right to sickness benefits
• Ensuring access to quarantine rooms for people who do not have the opportunity to follow the distance requirements in their own home.

Høie disagrees that the government is behind schedule with the measures, despite the fact that infection in immigrant communities has been higher than in the majority population for almost the entire period of the pandemic.

Høie says the government has had a series of measures targeting various minority groups since March.

Obesity and diabetes

Sheraz Yaqub says that the factors that make first-generation Pakistani Pakistanis particularly vulnerable are that many in this group have diabetes, are overweight and have high blood pressure. At the same time, this group is over 70 years old, which also increases the risk.

The fact that many Norwegian-Pakistanis live in overcrowded conditions and that many work in service occupations that make them more vulnerable to infection and thus infecting loved ones, is also highlighted as a possible reason for the high level of infection in this group.

– Then there may also be something genetic about which you still don’t have enough knowledge, says Abid Raja.

During the press conference, he and Bent Høie went through all the infection control councils in both Urdu and Norwegian, and Raja asked the Norwegian-Pakistani press for help in spreading the word.

Raja also made an urgent call to stop going to Pakistan during the Christmas holidays, noting that the infection there is now very high.