London Mayor Urges UK Government to Act to Protect Ethnic Minorities Amid COVID-19 Surge

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th January, 2021) Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has urged the UK government to bolster efforts aimed at protecting ethnic minorities amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the nation's capital, The Independent newspaper reports on Monday.

"As we enter the third national lockdown having seen exponential growth in cases over the past month in the capital, I write to you again to ask that you heed the lessons learned from the first wave of this virus and immediately take steps to protect those who are likely to suffer disproportionate impacts from Covid-19," Khan said in a letter to the government that was seen by the newspaper.

According to data published by the Office of National Statistics this past October, individuals of Black and South Asian background are between 2.

0 and 2.7 times more likely to die after contracting COVID-19 than those of White ethnic background.

"Given what we now know about how the virus affects Bame [Black, Asian, and minority ethnic] communities, there is no excuse for continued inaction," Khan stated in the letter, as quoted by the newspaper.

The United Kingdom has experienced a surge in new COVID-19 cases linked to the discovery of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant over recent weeks. On Sunday, 54,940 new positive tests were confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care, and more than 3 million cases of the disease have now been registered in the country.

One week ago, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a national lockdown in England for the third time since the start of the pandemic.