LONDON: Lord Zameer Choudrey has appealed to the British government to consider members of ethnic minority communities in a special scheme to look after them as it has become an established fact that Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community members have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 across Britain.
Taking part in a debate in the House of Lords, Lord Choudrey explained in detail how people from the BAME communities have been affected in the last four months and how threat from the novel virus will increase in coming days.
He stressed that one of the reasons for the disproportionate impact on the BAME community was the nature of the work they perform with them overindexing in the food retail, healthcare and transport sectors and that large proportions of such individuals are not covered by the government life assurance scheme.
Whilst applauding the role the BAME community is performing in the midst of the current pandemic Lord Choudrey urged the government to consider additional financial support for these individuals stating:
“The government has already categorised them as essential workers, it necessarily follows that the government must have considered including some, if not all, of these groups in the government’s own Life Assurance Scheme. Is the minister able to shed any light on what was considered and whether anything is currently being considered? I believe that when we look back on this episode in years to come, this will be an area that will be under the microscope. If it is economically viable to undertake this, I’m sure this will be well received.”
