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Senior Staff Writer

10 November 2020

| | 2 min read

Newcastle doctors Coronavirus video plea to BAME communities

Newcastle City Council have produced videos in different languages with a range of medical practitioners from Newcastle’s Hospitals to support Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities through COVID restrictions.

Doctor
The videos feature Consultant Neurosurgeons, Anaesthetists, Specialist Nurses and surgeons at the Freeman Hospital and RVI speaking in their native language.

Black and Asian people are nearly twice as likely to die from Coronavirus compared with white people.

With the country in a second national lockdown to prevent further spread of Coronavirus, the council is making sure that communities most at risk are being protected.

The videos feature Consultant Neurosurgeons, Anaesthetists, Specialist Nurses and surgeons at the Freeman Hospital and RVI speaking in their native language.

Recent findings from Public Health England have found that people from BAME communities are more at risk.

Black African people are found to be at most risk from the disease whilst other BAME communities have between 10 and 50% higher risk of death.

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Structural inequality is being blamed by many to be the cause of minority ethnic communities being disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

The council is working with partners and communities to address this issue as infection rates rise.

Cllr Irim Ali, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Communities said “Huge thanks to our partners at Newcastle Hospitals and their medical staff for helping to produce this excellent resource.

“So many of our residents have followed the advice and measures set out by Public Health, they’ve made huge sacrifices to keep themselves and the city safe.

“More needs to be done to ensure our communities that are disproportionately affected are protected. The council is working very hard to ensure our diverse communities are being reached and messages are shared that is understood and accessible to them.

“Whilst we’re doing what we can to safeguard our communities, urgent action needs to be taken by government to look into why this disparity exists in our communities.”

Huge thanks to our partners at Newcastle Hospitals and their medical staff for helping to produce this excellent resource.

Cllr Irim Ali

Cabinet member for Public Health and Neighbourhoods