The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Black populations across the globe

Written by Ritchie Aseke, July 2021

Introduction:

The coronavirus was first identified in December 2019 (COVID-19) in a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. In March 2020, COVID-19 was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its alarming rate of spread and severity. This resulted in outbreaks throughout the globe [1]. This article will explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted black communities worldwide, specifically concentrating on the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA), and African countries in general.

High prevalence of COVID-19 in the UK and USA black population — why?

As of June 22nd 2020, the global recorded cases of COVID-19 reached up to 178 million with a mortality rate of approximately 2% [2]. The UK alone has seen over 4.6 million cases with a higher mortality rate of over 3.3%; by the end of 2020, the UK had the highest mortality rate of all European countries [3]. The differences in COVID-19’s impact across the country reveals an unfortunate but unsurprising disparity in how the pandemic affected different ethnic groups.

Research by Public Health England found the rate of COVID-19 diagnosis to be highest amongst people of Black ethnic groups compared to other ethnic groups. This also remained true when looking at the rate of severe…