efiivflifine. 6, n. W , wt wbr id wbr30 w i east anglia the midlands and perhaps wales is moving to sunday evening. These storms capable of bringing torrential downpours and there is the risk of localised surface water Flooding Issues and next week, low pressure stays in charge and rain at times in the forecast. This is bbc news, the headlines. Prince charles has led commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of vj day, the world works the day world war ii ended with victory over jouban. Works the day world war ii ended with victory overjouban. We salute all those who remain among us and offer our most heartfelt and undying gratitude for those who have gone before. The prince of wales wales lane b
reeves. The exams wbrid wbr630 regulator has set out the criteria for appeals after 40 were much lower than predictions. Holiday makers have arrived back in the uk after a last minute dash to avoid a mandatory two week quarantine. Now, on bbc news, as wales begins to emerge from lockdown, bbc wales investigate looks at why people from ethnic minority backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. Its been a struggle but its been a blessing as well, having her at
home. Yasmins 84yearold mum is one of 100,000 people still shielding in wales. Her family are well aware that black and asian people in the uk and more susceptible to covid 19. In fact, they more than twice as likely to from it. In fact, they more than twice as likely to die with it. Nicolas partner was a busy Warehouse Manager looking forward to the birth of his second grandchild. I said to him, i really dont want you going to work, its really scary. The position we were in obviously with our mortgage and normally everyday bills it he is like, you know, i have got to go to work, i cant afford to have time off. He was looking after his dad, he was looking after his mum,
taking his holidays and days off taking them to the hospital appointments. Sa year olds razar from newport had asthma. Just before lockdown started he fell in. Within two days he was having trouble breathing and ice said the him that im going to call an ambulance. , he said people dont come home from this. I said dont talk like this youre going to fight this for the boys and the new baby and i gave him a kiss. That was the last time i spoke to him. I phoned him when he got into the hospital and he just said, look after your mother. Razar had covid 19 and was put on a ventilator. His elderly father died the same day. Razar never find out. For about a week i think i wasjust in denial thinking its a virus and yet, he is in but he is going to come through it, what a lot of people think. While razar lay in hospital, his family buried his father just a few miles away, but then another blow. Razars brother, ghulam, also contracted to covid 19. More than 1500 people have died from david here in wales. If the warning signs were there for decades,
why has it taken a pandemic for us to sit up and take notice . At the beginning of lockdown, those working on the front line were starting to raise concerns about what they were seeing. They say very openly, many of them, right from the start, we are really scared. When we see the images on the tv screens and on our social media we know that we are disproportionately impacted but when i have got to make a choice between putting food on the table and pay my bills, what do you think im going to do . And when we started to see the number of. Whether it was doctors, nurses, care workers, cleaners, porters and so forth dying, again, it was predominantly from those communities, and many of them are in a position where they have to take on the extra shifts so therefore they are naturally overly exposed. Ao year old julia sanna,
a Health Care Support worker in south wales has died in hospital after contracting coronavirus. She came from to the uk from the philippines in 2005 to work in a care home. Her husband julius and his sisterjovelin both also worked in health care. At first he worked as an agency and then he applied for a permanentjob in saint peter because they always put him in the hospital. Was there coronavirus in the place where he was working . Yes, i think it started already at that time. Yes, because he told me, he went to the hospital and on two occasions he brought a patient to the hospital who was positive and i think he died. A patient who was positive and he died . Yeah. And whenjulius was looking
after this patient did he have any protection himself . Before he went to the hospital i give him gloves and masks as well because you know it is a bit scary as well. Julius had diabetes, which put him over risk from covid 19. How good was the ppe, was it full mask . No, itsjust a. Just a Face Covering . He was wearing what official guidance said at the time was the rights protection for staff working alongside covid patients. We were asking at the time whether this was enough because we were seeing on the telly there in china ending the philippines they were already wearing full ppe like they were an astronaut but there we are just waving at that time a face mask but they said that was the guidelines. Tell me about when julius fell ill. Just a fever and then it was. So he isolate himself. So i was telling him that maybe we go to hospital, they will give you antibiotic and you will be fine and then the next day, he was intubated. It was the day of his daughters fifth birthday. They said that hopefully after, light, a week or like ten days he will be awake and that we can facetime him so we waited for that day yet he. They call and said he is having a car cardiac arrest then after a few, like, ten minutes, they said he passed away. Julius was just a0 years old. Are people sometimes frightened to say no, or frightened not to go to work because they may lose money or they may not get paid . I think hes a person that you dont want people to think about that hes lazy . Was he very proud about the work he did . Yeah, i think maybe it is a part of the job. 16 health and social care workers died in wales in the first wave of covid 19. At least ten were from ethnic minority backgrounds, and of those seven were filipino. Seems like this in north wales became a common sight across the country. Dr David Nabarro is one of the worlds leading expert on covid 19. An expression that i sometimes use
now is covid is a great revealer. It reveals vulnerabilities, and fragility in many of the systems that exist in our society. You say it is a revealer but were you surprised to learn that bame people were disproportionately affected by that . Yeah, i personally was. I want to be honest with you. Just seeing life through the lens of covid and certainly changed my view of many issues. Its notjust workers who have been affected. Some ethnic minority groups also have higher levels of illnesses, like cardiovascular disorders and diabetes, which have risk factors for the virus. My mum is diabetic and i monitor her sugar levels throughout the day with a blood glucose monitor. Hello. Yasmins mum is shielding and has moved in with the family. Its a breath of fresh air because it has been over four months and we havent been out of the house. We started our own self imposed lockdown a week or so before the official lockdown. We really felt like we needed to protect her. Yasmin and her daughter alina have been filming their daily routines. So she has carers come and go for times a day and there was also myself. I am with her, like, 21w, trying to manage her health issues, her medication, and make her 0k. Research shows that carers
from black and asian backgrounds provide more care proportionately than White British carers. Bangladeshi and pakistani carers also experience greater levels of isolation. What has it been like for you . Learning to do things, and alsojust taking care of my grandma. She is now part of her grandmas daily routine, you see, so she has learnt a lot and she has learned how to make tea. Laughter. Statistics show that ethnic minority workers are twice as likely to be on Agency Contracts and more likely to be in lower paid jobs. Bangladeshi men are also four times more likely to work in industries that closed during lockdown than white men. When we were looking down the list of the sectors that were due to shut down we already knew that certain people were going to be most disproportionately impacted, economically. And if they were going to be impacted economically, ultimately, health wise they were going to be an compacted team. And if they were going to be impacted economically, ultimately, health wise they were going to be impacted too. And in the meantime the bills are piling up, the landlord is asking for the event, what are you going to do . Youre going to go out there and youre going to do what you can. Taxi driver ghulam and his brother razar had both been working in the weeks before they fell ill. Now they were both on the same intensive care world. In april the 22nd, nicola was called into the hospital. Soon as i walked in they were about ten nurses and doctors sell surrounding his bed talking to him
and holding his hands. They never left his side until i got there. Never. They were always there. I give him a kiss on the cheek and i was holding his hands and his prayer beads and within five minutes they said his heart stopped. I couldnt hug my sons to tell them my their dad had passed away. I had to tell them over the phone. You think that your dad so invincible, you think they will live forever and in some extent you take your dad for granted, you take your parents for granted. So many opportunities. So many days have just being torn away. 12 hours after razars death,
ghulam also died of covid 19. 12 hours after razars death, ghulam also died with covid 19. His wife is observing a traditional mourning period for widows sewers his wife is observing a traditional mourning period for widows so isnt showing herface. He always worked every day. I said for him, have some time for me and you and thats what we were planning but god had other plans. Black men and women are more than twice as likely to die black men and women are nearly twice as likely to die from coronavirus as white people in england and wales. That is according to the office of national statistics. By may, the impact on ethnic minorities in low paid jobs and from deprived areas was becoming increasingly clear. We commissioned our own research into links between ethnicity and deprivation and found that people from ethnic minority backgrounds in wales are more likely than white people to live in areas where deprivation has gone worse since 2011. All of these things are intrinsically linked that, you know, ends up being one of the reasons why people from bame communities are more affected by covid. I think the black lives Matter Movement has really awoken an awful lot of people who have a lot of things in common. There are people that are shielding, theres very little help out there for self employed, yet despite lots of assurances, we have found that some people are not even able to access those support mechanisms. Just going to monitor her sugar levels. Yasmin has found herself caring
for her mum full time since the start of lockdown. She says help has been slow and arriving. I have been in isolation with her performance and i have played a big part in keeping her out of hospital. It takes a lot and it has been challenging and i feel like when ive asked for support, its been a very big struggle and it has had an emotional and mental impact on me, you know. What extra help could you have done with . Support for maybe someone to maybe check on her in the night and some more support in the day. We need respite as well. I thought anything i requested was overlooked, it was like a big
battle because somewhere i dont think they realise they had voice in their heads where they fell, theyve got a big family. Did anyone in social services and suggest to you, youve got a big family . Yes, it was the Community Health services and the social health services. I dont think its overtly racist, i think its subconsciously prejudiced. We cannot assume that everybody is able to access care with the same alacrityjust because it is free. I think we also have to understand that there may be quite a lot of barriers in the home or in the community that prevent people from accessing care, or authorities really do need to take account of the big inequities in the employment conditions, in living conditions, and indeed in access to vital services. Some front line workers from ethnic minorities could face certain death unless action is taken quickly here. Thats the stark warning from the British Association of physicians of indian origin. Facing increasing pressure to take action, the Welsh Government set up an Advisory Group. This judge and his Team Immediately went to work. We realise that we needed Risk Assessment of the doctors, nurses, and front line workers. It takes about 60 seconds to 90 seconds to complete it. Now, had we had that before, these people would have never died, or contacted those illnesses, because we would have moved them back. So a phone that takes a minute and a half to complete, so a form that takes a minute and a half to complete, had that been available
at the onset, do you think some lives could have been saved . Indeed. So should the a Welsh Government have been better prepared . That is what he thinks, do you agree . He is the person that we respect and trust to carry out this work. Anything that we could have done obviously we would have gone want to have done it and there isnt a tool like this list is operating as a factor in the rest of the uk. Brothers razah and ghulam were buried on the same day. 0nly ten people could be
at their funeral, so ghulams colleagues found another way to pay their respects. For razars son connor the link between employment and covid 19 seems clear. Everyone knows that there are certain roles that only people in certain communities are doing and they are obviously the ones at most risk. Taxi drivers for example. You know, its a rock and a hard place. In latejune, judge singhs Advisory Group published a report. It found that base inequalities exist in wales in made 37 urgent it found that race inequalities exist in wales in made 37 urgent recommendations to protect communities from covid 19 and address embedded structural inequality. You are living with racism, you are experiencing racism, and racism is embedded in the institution which in fact controls workforce, housing, and everything. Do you think government and leaders in the public and the private sector get that link . Not all of them are getting it. There are some who will continue to protect their own positions. As a result, they will not see it. They dont want to see it. But there are people whos extremely committed to ensuring that racism eliminated. Just before lockdown,
the Welsh Government launched a strategy to improve the representation of ethnic minorities and other groups and public appointments. But the report says that not enough has been done. Are you worried that we wont act on these recommendations and we will move onto the next crisis, the next problem . I always worry, having spent five decades and fighting for equality, but i see commitment at the moment, and i do hope that they will act upon it. I love you good night for this family, the help that they have been asking for may finally be here. Social services have agreed to revisit and reassess their needs. I almost feel they are doubting me, judging me, thinking it is my needs, just my needs, but ultimately it is about my mum. Like, i am so nervous thinking what if they come in tomorrow, not believing that my mum has those needs . So, how did the meeting with social services go . It went really well, and they even had a chat with my mums new social worker today and it alls very positive and she is driving up an action plan of my mums needs and what she would need support with. I think i am personally still in fear of going out and everything, i still want to continue to shield. Cardiff council say they aim to give support to families that is right for them, but they said that they will work to understand and address yasmins concerns. Covid is still here. What needs to be done now to make sure that those inequalities dont lead to disproportionate numbers of people from ethnically diverse background suffering and dying from covid in the second and third spike . I want to see action. I think the reports are there, the recommendations of the end i think we need a public enquiry, warts and all. We need to be prepared to get uncomfortable. Do you agree with that . Well, i think we should implement the action plan that we are delivering on the race equality strategy and i think that is what people expect. We need to get on. We have got the evidence, we have had the reports. We have found that in the last 20 years, at least ten uk wide reports have raised the issue of Health Inequalities in wales. This is just another one of those. Why havent they been acted on in the past . I mean, we didnt know what the impact of covid 19 would be as a virus but we knew about socioeconomic inequalities, youre absolutely right. We have got to accept that there structural inequalities. Racism. And there is racism and there is no way that we can be complacent or think this doesnt apply to those in wales. Brothers razar and ghulam were buried side by side near their fathers grave. Since then, their family has welcomed a new arrival. She was born on the 6th ofjuly. 0ur granddaughter, razars princess, and we absolutely over the moon. Aunty, look new guidelines mean she has finally got the pp she wanted after returning to work. We said this is what we needed before. Injuly, julius would have celebrated his 41st birthday. Angel. Angel, hes in . Heaven. Life is too short. You dont know what is going to happen next. It has taken a pandemic to reveal the inequalities that too many people here in wales have seen all along. Now the question is, will those in power to notice . Now the question is, will those in power take notice . Hello, there. The weather is still humid but the difference had been last week and what we have got at the moment is that for most of us, we have extensive cloud. Turning misty and murky around the coast and hails, quite extensive drizzle for england and wales, the occasional heavy burst in the forecast. 70 degrees for cardiff and london by the end of the night. Sunday, better prospects of sunshine across southern areas of the uk but the best of the day is sunny weather likely across the north west of scotland. Thunderstorms in south west england, another batch of thunderstorms moving into south east england before moving into east anglia, the midlands and east wales as we head towards sunday evening. They may be torrential downpours but the risk of localised flooding
issues and beyond that, low pressure stays in charge next week, and we have got rain at times of the forecast. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Thousands protest on the streets of belarus for a seventh day as pressure grows on president lukashenko. 0n the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two injapan, £anme £2571; my; 1. 7 £5. 21 . . . 7 f m f past military actions. New quarantine rules in the uk as countries across europe continue to fight the spread of covid 19. The Us Postal Service warns that mail in votes may not arrive in time to be counted after President Trump denies the organisation extra funding. Keeping cool in korea, the high tech bus stop