LONDON: More than 90 percent of severely ill COVID-19 patients in Germany have a 鈥渕igrant background,鈥� a leading doctor has said, amid concerns that minority ethnic groups require more support in the fight against the virus.

Thomas Voshaar, a top doctor at a German lung hospital, said a survey of leading medics had found that many of the most gravely ill patients were what he described as 鈥減atients with communications barriers.鈥�

Saloni Dattani, a science writer and researcher at OurWorldInData, told Arab News: 鈥淭he reasons that ethnic minorities are more likely to develop severe disease are well-understood. In the UK and the US, ethnic minorities are more likely to live in geographical areas that are hard hit, more likely to work in essential services where they come into contact with more people, more likely to live in dense areas, and more likely to live in multigenerational households.鈥�

She added: 鈥淚n sum, a greater proportion of severely ill patients are from ethnic minority backgrounds because a greater proportion of all COVID-19 patients are from ethnic minority backgrounds.鈥�

The head of Germany鈥檚 top diseases institute, Lothar Wieler, said the number of intensive care patients with a Muslim background was 鈥渃learly above 50 percent,鈥� despite making up just 5 percent of Germany鈥檚 83 million population.

Voshaar told a conference call of journalists that government warnings about the dangers of the virus are 鈥渟imply not getting through鈥� to migrant communities.

Jonathon Kitson, a fellow at the London-based Adam Smith Institute, told Arab News: 鈥淭his shows the need for an acceleration in Germany鈥檚 vaccination program to reach all members of society.鈥�

He added: 鈥淎lthough vaccine acceptance rates in the UK amongst BAME (black, Asian and ethnic minority) people have initially been lower than the rest of the population, thanks to outreach and personal testimony this is beginning to change.鈥�

Wieler said doctors had compiled figures from intensive care wards toward the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, the peak months of the second wave.

鈥淎ccording to my analysis, more than 90 percent of the intubated, most seriously ill patients always had a migrant background,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e agreed among ourselves that we should describe these people as 鈥榩atients with communications barriers.鈥� We don鈥檛 seem to be getting through to them,鈥� he added.

鈥淭here are parallel societies in our country. You can only put that right with proper outreach work in the mosques, but we鈥檙e not getting through. And that sucks.鈥�

Minority groups have been hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19 in many countries, including in the UK, where studies have shown a higher mortality rate among black and Asian people.

But Germany does not publish official figures on infection or death rates among different ethnic groups.

鈥淪ince it鈥檚 more difficult for ethnic minorities to self-isolate and protect themselves from exposure to COVID-19, it鈥檚 all the more important to vaccinate and provide support for ethnic minorities,鈥� Dattani said.