Coronavirus ‘track and trace’ could help East End’s ethnic population

Measures to track and trace anyone affected by coronavirus in the East End’s ethnic community could soon be under way.

Preparing sanitisers at an east London lab for tackling Coronavirus outbreak. Picture: Portobello Rd - Credit: Portobello Rd

The move follows a Queen Mary University study of GP practices which have been contacted by patients who have Covid-19 symptoms.

“Data from GP practices can be used for public health measures,” Queen Mary’s Prof Kambiz Boomla said. “This includes contact tracing that will be needed to prevent any second wave.”

Asians are nearly twice as likely to have symptoms when they contact their GPs, the study has found. The “greater risk” has been identified in the research aimed at mapping out the spread of the virus.

The academics put their findings to Tower Hamlets mayor John Biggs, to build up a public health strategy response to the outbreak in the Asian and Somali communities.

Preparing sanitisers at an east London lab for tackling Coronavirus outbreak. Picture: Portobello Rd - Credit: Portobello Rd

The mayor said: “Understanding the data is important — but is only the start. We’ll continue to lobby the government to protect all our communities.”

He has written to the prime minister raising fears about the impact on the ethnic population. The local authority believes it has “a better understanding” of how to tackle the outbreak, following the GP study.