Racism and discrimination in COVID-19 responses

Outbreaks create fear, and fear is a key ingredient for racism and xenophobia to thrive. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has uncovered social and political fractures within communities, with racialised and discriminatory responses to fear, disproportionately affecting marginalised groups.
Throughout history, infectious diseases have been associated with othering.1 Following the spread of COVID-19 from Wuhan, China, discrimination towards Chinese people has increased. This includes individual acts of microaggression or violence, to collective forms, for example Chinese people being barred from establishments.2 Rather than being an equaliser, given its ability to affect anyone, COVID-19 policy responses have disproportionately affected people of colour and migrantsópeople who are over-represented in lower socioeconomic groups, have limited health-care access, or work in precarious jobs. This is especially so in resource-poor settings that lack forms of social protection. Self-isolation is often not possible, leading to higher risk of viral spread. Ethnic minority groups are also at greater risk because of comorbiditiesófor example, high rates of hypertension in Black populations3 and diabetes in south Asians.4 Furthermore, migrants, particularly those without documents, avoid hospitals for fear of identification and reporting, ultimately presenting late with potentially more advanced disease.