Less skilled workers, especially men, are at higher risk of dying from coronavirus in the UK, according to research released Monday when the government wants to start restarting the economy.
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These workers are among those who cannot work from home and who are therefore encouraged by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to return to work this week, despite continued containment in the United Kingdom.
Maintenance workers and workers particularly concerned
The British Bureau of Statistics (ONS) study looks at 2,494 deaths of people aged 20 to 64 registered until April 20 in England and Wales. "Men in the lowest skilled occupations had the highest Covid-19 fatality rate," the bureau said, citing maintenance and construction workers in particular. The death rate is 21.4 deaths per 100,000 men.
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"Men working as security guards had one of the highest rates" (45.7), according to the study. Taxi and bus drivers, cooks and vendors are among the other occupations at risk for men. Men and women working in the social sector, including retirement homes, also had "a significantly higher mortality rate," said the ONS. However, this is not the case for caregivers, including doctors and nurses. The ONS warned against hasty conclusions, however, since the study figures had not been corrected for the ethnic origin of the deceased or their place of residence.
Nearly 32,000 dead in the UK
The United Kingdom is the second country in the world most affected by the pandemic after the United States, with nearly 32,000 deaths. According to two British studies published in early May, which point to the role of socio-economic factors, black people, Asians or other ethnic minorities living in the country are much more likely to die from the new coronavirus than the average. The ONS had also previously found that the virus killed twice as much in the poor districts of England.