Oldham virus cases ethnic data ‘leading to racist abuse’
THE publication of data – revealing the ethnicity of who has been infected with Covid-19 – has led to residents in Oldham being “racially abused” and discriminated against, a councillor has claimed, writes Charlotte Green.
At a meeting of the borough’s scrutiny panels, councillor Shoab Akhtar, who represents Werneth ward, asked if any other local authorities were making the ethnic breakdown of new cases public.
Oldham council publishes statistics each week about how many cases of the virus have been recorded in the past seven days, as well the age, gender and ethnicity of new cases over a 28-day period.
Akhtar told the meeting: “This has led to BAME residents being racially abused, discriminated against, victimised. And there’s a lot of hatred out there.”
The council was working closely with Greater Manchester Police to improve reporting of hate crime in the borough, and a council taskforce has a role in making sure the authority responds “proactively to racism and health crime”.
A strategic equalities group has also been set up specifically around Covid-19 in order to respond to racism occurring in relation to the pandemic.
According to an online dashboard, in the month leading up to September 18, the highest number of new Covid cases were in the Asian/Asian British group.
The council states alongside the data that: “Those in the Asian/Asian British population may be more vulnerable to catching the virus due to higher numbers working in public-facing higher risk roles such as health care, transport, retail and hospitality.
“In addition, larger household size will be affecting the number of cases spread within individual households.”
The two biggest hotspots in the borough remain the Alexandra Park and Werneth areas, which saw 57 and 45 cases, respectively, in the week to September 23.
Overall, throughout the pandemic, the most cases were in the white population, according to the town hall. (Local De