Deaths in Pakistani ethnic group 3.7 times as likely to involve Covid

Deaths among people of Pakistani ethnicity in Scotland are almost four times as likely to involve Covid-19 as white Scottish people, according to analysis.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) data found that between March 12 2020 and September 30 2021, the odds ratio that a Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British person’s death involved the virus was 3.7 times higher.

Compared with white Scots, deaths among people of Chinese or Indian ethnicity were 1.7 times as likely to involve Covid-19, while for other Asian ethnicities it was three times as likely.

Deaths among people of white “Other British” ethnicity were 0.8 times as likely to involve Covid-19 than for white Scots.

Latest NRS data shows that 115 deaths that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate were registered between November 8 and 14, which was 25 fewer than the previous week.

Pete Whitehouse, NRS director of statistical services, said: “The number of registered Covid-19 deaths has fallen to the lowest number since early September.

“The next couple of weeks will provide valuable evidence on whether the latest fall is the start of a sustained decline or a continuation of the recent fluctuations.

“Our analysis shows that there continues to be an increased risk of dying with Covid-19 amongst people living in Scotland’s most deprived areas, and that deaths of people with a Pakistani, Chinese, Indian or other Asian ethnicity are more likely to involve Covid-19 than those of people with a white Scottish ethnicity.”

The likelihood of deaths among people with other white, white Polish and white Irish ethnicity involving Covid-19 was not significantly different from white Scots, NRS said.

By November 14, there had been 11,933 deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Of the deaths in the week to November 14, 23 were people aged under 65, 32 were aged 65-74 and 60 were 75 or older.

Fife was the council area with the highest number of deaths at 15, followed by Glasgow City with 14 and South Lanarkshire with eight.

The statistics are published weekly and cover all deaths registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

They differ from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because the NRS figures include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.

NRS analysis of deaths occurring between March 2020 and October 2021 shows that after adjusting for age, people living in the most deprived areas were 2.5 times as likely to die with Covid-19 as those in the least deprived areas.

The size of this gap has widened from 2.1 over the period of the pandemic.

Scotland has recorded 13 coronavirus deaths and 3360 new cases in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data published by the Scottish Government.

It means the death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is 9419.

The daily test positivity rate was 8.8%, down from 12.8% the previous day, figures published on Wednesday show.

There were 774 people in hospital on Tuesday with recently confirmed Covid-19, down five on the day before, with 57 in intensive care, no change.

So far, 4,332,835 people have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 3,931,709 have received a second dose.