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There are concerns about the impact on people from an ethnic minority.
More than 70 public figures are calling for a full and independent public investigation into Covid-19 deaths among people of minority ethnicity.
They have signed a letter to the Prime Minister asking for more transparency.
Signatories include author Malorie Blackman, playwright, Kwame Kwei-Armah, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.
According to the Office for National Statistics, black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die from coronaviruses as whites in England and Wales.
“Only an independent public investigation will provide the answers we need. Such investigation is essential for everyone, especially those who have lost loved ones as a result of the pandemic,” says the open letter to Boris Johnson.
A scientific review by Public Health England (PHE) on the impact of Covid-19 on ethnic minority frontline workers and the wider community is already underway.
The quick review, due later this month, will examine health records to try to establish more “robust” data on emerging evidence that the virus is having a disproportionate effect on certain groups.
When asked about the PHE review at Saturday’s daily briefing, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the matter was being taken “incredibly seriously.”
He added: “We are determined to get to the bottom in a proper and scientific way.”
- Why do more people with a BAME history die of coronavirus?
- Coronavirus cases to be tracked by ethnicity
Analysis by the Office of National Statistics shows that inequality in death rates between black and white people persists after taking into account age, where people live and some measures of deprivation and previous health.
People from the Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities also had a significantly higher risk of dying.
The Labor Party has announced its own review of the impact of the coronavirus on black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, led by Baroness Lawrence.
The activist and mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has been named a worker relations adviser by leader Sir Keir Starmer.
