COVID-19 AND THOSE MOST AT RISK OF SERIOUS ILLNESS
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.1 With a vaccine some time away, and no effective drug treatment currently available, the options for controlling the pandemic remain limited.2 The virus causing COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, is spread mainly through droplets and is highly contagious. With >170 000 cases and >26 000 deaths, the UK has been among the worst affected countries globally. Tragically, >100 health and care workers are reported to have already died in the UK because of COVID-19, including several GPs.3 More deaths are inevitable unless urgent action is taken to reduce the risk of healthcare workers contracting COVID-19 infection in the workplace.
Research from countries such as China and Italy has shown that the risks of serious illness and death in people with COVID-19 infection are strongly associated with age, sex, and underlying medical problems.4,5 Older people, men, and people with cardiometabolic risk factors (such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and obesity) have the highest death rates.6 In the UK, emerging evidence suggests that people from ethnic minority communities may also have a higher risk of death, for example, …