Question reference: S5W-33876
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 7 December 2020
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 January 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of people from the Pakistani community have been tested for COVID-19 in each month since March 2020, also broken down by how many have (i) tested positive, (ii) been admitted to hospital and (iii) died because of the condition, and how this compares with (A) other BAME groups and (B) the overall population.
Answer
Public Health Scotland first published an analysis of the variation in outcomes by ethnic group among those tested positive for COVID-19 on 20 May. Updates using more complete data on ethnicity were published on 15 July, 12 August and 2 December. The analysis focussed on the risk of a more serious outcome due to COVID-19, requiring hospitalisation, admission to a critical care unit care or dying.
The ethnicity analysis in the PHS reports does not include specific information on testing or deaths as this information is not held centrally. The latest report re-enforced earlier findings, that there was evidence of increased risks of serious illness due to COVID-19 in those of South Asian origin, particularly in relation to those needing critical care or dying following a positive test.
The PHS report from 2nd Dec shows that South Asian ethnic groups (Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi) accounted for nearly 2% of patients (among those that tested positive for COVID-19), similar to the proportion of the population recorded at the last census. It also notes that among South Asians, the increased risk of hospitalisation or death was particularly evident among the Pakistani group, based on 94 cases.
The report also shows that when the analysis is restricted to COVID-19 patients with the most severe outcomes, i.e. admission to a critical care unit (ICU or HDU) or death, the increased rate of severe disease among the South Asian ethnic group was seen most markedly within the Pakistani ethnic group.
The latest report is available here: https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/covid-19-statistical-report/2-december-2020/
Detailed tables showing a breakdown of all ethnic minority groups accompany the report, and are available from the PHS website here: https://beta.isdscotland.org/media/6736/ethnicity-tables.xlsx
National Records of Scotland (NRS) also published a report on 8th July which showed that there were 23 deaths amongst the “Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British” ethnicity category where Covid-19 was written on the death certificate, either as a suspected or probable contributing factor in the death. The report is available here:
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/ethnicity-deceased-covid-19-june20.pdf
Subsequent analysis published by NRS in November reiterated the elevated risk to people in the South Asian group from COVID-19, and this is available on the NRS ‘ethnicity of the deceased person’ webpage here: