Covid mortality higher among ethnically diverse communities

Proportionally, more ethnically diverse people died of Covid-19 in the first coronavirus year - March 2020 to March 2021 - than people with Dutch roots, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Tuesday.

The stats office investigated the coronavirus deaths among people with specific demographic characteristics, such as background, age, and income. Origin seemed to play an important role. Coronavirus mortality was relatively higher among people with a Moroccan, Turkish, Surinamese, or Indonesian background in the first and second ave than among the general population.

Covid-19 was the cause of about a quarter of Dutch-Moroccan people's deaths in that period. That was 23 percent for people with a Turkish background and 22 percent for people with Surinamese roots. Looking at the total population, 15 percent of the deaths in the first coronavirus year were due to the virus.

In the Netherlands, the coronavirus pandemic started in the southeast of the country in March 2020 and spread gradually to the rest of the Netherlands. The stats office did not give an unequivocal cause for the higher mortality rate among ethnically diverse population groups. However, Covid-19 deaths during the second wave were more common in the large cities where incomes are generally lower and more ethnically diverse people live. According to the researchers, "other factors" also played a role. 

The researchers also noted that conditions like diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease are more common in ethnically diverse population groups, according to NOS. And these underlying health problems increase the risk of death from Covid-19.