The death rate from coronavirus is twice as high for people with disabilities, according to analysis by the ‘Office for National Statistics’.
This group saw 200 deaths per 100,000 men and 140 deaths per 100,000 women.
Among people who were not disabled, there were 70 deaths with COVID-19 per 100,000 men and 36 deaths per 100,000 women.
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The analysis is based on deaths between 2nd March and 15th May for which coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.
The 2011 census defines as disabled people who say that their daily activities are ‘limited a lot’ by a health problem or disability.
DISABLED WOMEN OVER 11 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DIE OF CORONAVIRUS
Disabled women with limiting disabilities aged under 65 are 11.3 times more likely to die than non-disabled females, disabled men aged under 65 with limiting disabilities are 6.5 times more likely to die, and a third of all lives lost to Coronavirus in the UK have been those of disabled people .
Fazilet Hadi, Head of Policy at Disability Rights UK
Fazilet Hadi is head of policy at Disability Rights UK and has been forthcoming about the coronavirus from the beginning.
“We said at the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis that disabled people must not be allowed to become cannon fodder. A fifth of this country’s population is disabled. The spread of this virus has amounted to a cull upon our community.
Government failed to protect disabled people from the start of this outbreak. It prioritised the NHS over social care when they should have had parity. It failed on PPE. It consciously reduced and removed our rights to care under the Coronavirus Act.”
She went on to add; “It failed to develop a plan that would protect us, instead turning us into fish in a barrel. Our deaths and those of care home workers have been way too high. The government called us vulnerable.The government made us vulnerable.”
CLICK HERE for details of the Coronavirus Act 2020