UK funds multimillion-pound studies to probe ethnicity link with virus

London: New projects worth around 4.3 million pounds have received the UK government funding to help explain and mitigate the disproportionately adverse COVID-19 impact and higher death rate among the country’s ethnic minorities, including those of Indian origin.
The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and National Institute for Health Research (NHRI) backed projects include over 2 million pounds for academics at the University of Leicester to investigate why people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19.
The study titled UK-REACH UK Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers will work with more than 30,000 clinical and non-clinical members of staff to assess their risk from the deadly coronavirus, based on the analysis of two million healthcare records.
There is no exact figure available of healthcare workers who died from COVID-19 in England. (PTI)