The Zimbabwean Embassy in the United Kingdom has suggested that the number of Zimbabweans who died in the UK during the coronavirus crisis may be over 10 percent of the total number of all UK frontline workers who have died.
This startling disclosure suggests that Zimbabweans may be the most vulnerable in the UK and this prompted an investigation by a team of researchers and medical experts.
Dr Brighton Chireka, a 46-year old physician Zimbabwean who founded the Zimbabwean Diaspora Health Alliance, an organisation that has been collecting evidence and allegations from thousands of Zimbabweans and other ethnic minority health workers during the epidemic says he has been disturbed by what he has found. He said:
There is a perception amongst Zimbabweans and other BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) health workers in Britain that they are treated less favourably than white staff members.
They frequently tell us that they are being targeted to work in the COVID wards, particularly those working for private agencies. We have been told that whites are more likely than blacks to be assigned ventilators in case of illness.
At least 37 Zimbabweans have died since the outbreak of the pandemic.
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