Asian men and black and Asian women living in care homes in England are at a greater risk of death involving coronavirus than white residents, figures suggest.

The Covid-19 death rate for female care home residents from an Asian background was two times as high compared to white residents, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The death rate for male Asian residents was 1.6 times greater than the rate for white residents.

Black residents were 1.6 and 1.7 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than white men and women respectively.

The ONS estimated mortality rates involving Covid-19 of ethnic groups based on deaths between March 2 and July 28 which could be linked to the 2011 Census.

And analysts used NHS hospital episode statistics to see whether attending hospital in the past three years for a relevant health condition affects the risk of death with the virus.

While they identified an increased risk for certain ethnicities in care homes, the ONS said it is lower than the increased risk between ethnicities living in private homes.

When adjusting for care homes’ geography and population density, the risk was reduced for all ethnic groups when compared to the white population.

The increased risk for black males reduced to 1.3, and for black women to 1.4, while for Asian men and women it decreased to 1.4 and 1.7 respectively.

Further adjusting for underlying health status reduced the risk by a small amount for both ethnicities, with the resulting increased risk for black men no longer significant.

The ONS said: “Overall, the mortality rates among ethnic groups do not show the same extent of increased risk observed among ethnic minorities in the general population.

“After controlling for geography and health, we observe only a small significant increased risk for Asian males and black and Asian females; the risk to Asian females after adjustment is 1.7 times the risk to white females.”

Looking at the wider population in England and Wales, the ONS found black African, black Caribbean and Bangladeshi men had “significantly higher” rates of death involving Covid-19 than all other ethnic groups, with rates exceeding 250 deaths per 100,000 people,

The death rate for black African males was more than 2.7 times higher than the death rate for white men, who have a rate of 106.8 deaths per 100,000.

Black Caribbean women had a death rate of almost two times that of white women, at 128.8 deaths per 100,000 population.

All ethnic minority groups other than Chinese had a higher rate than the white population across both genders.

The ONS said the increased risk for some ethnic groups cannot be fully explained by pre-existing health conditions and is most strongly linked to socio-economic factors.

In England, black African males were 3.8 times more likely to die with the virus than white men, while black African females were 2.9 times as likely.

Taking into account geography, socio-economic characteristics and health measures, including pre-existing conditions, black African males were 2.5 times as likely and women were 2.1 times as likely.

Ben Humberstone, deputy director of health analysis and life events at the ONS, said: “Today’s report confirms that when adjusting for age, rates of death involving Covid-19 remain greater for most ethnic minority groups, and most notably so for people of black African, black Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic background.

“Our statistical modelling shows that a large proportion of the difference in the risk of Covid-19 mortality between ethnic groups can be explained by demographic, geographical and socioeconomic factors, such as where you live or the occupation you’re in.

“It also found that although specific pre-existing conditions place people at greater risk of Covid-19 mortality generally, it does not explain the remaining ethnic background differences in mortality.”

By Jemma Crew and Ian Jones, PA