Black and south Asian people in UK urged to get jabs to cut higher Covid death rates

Disparity with white people who have lower death rate relative to infection rate suspected to be due to slower vaccine uptake

• Coronavirus - latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Doctors have urged unvaccinated Black and south Asian people to get their Covid jabs after new data revealed hospitalisations and deaths are higher in those groups, despite infection rates being lower than in white people.

Infections were higher in many Black and Asian groups during Britain's first two waves of Covid but recently the pattern has shifted, with infections now more common among white people, even though their death rates remain relatively low.