Coronavirus: British Asians ‘fear backlash’ over virus spread as Eid approaches and racist slurs surface

Fears have been raised that British Asians are being scapegoated over coronavirus as millions of Muslims prepare to celebrate the festival of Eid-al-Adha this Friday.

Leicester, Blackburn, Oldham and Rochdale along with Bradford and other towns in Yorkshire have seen recent outbreaks peaking among Asians, often living in the most deprived neighbourhoods of terraced streets in the centre of towns and cities, causing some to fear “victims of circumstance” will take the blame.

In one recent incident reported to the PA news agency, a young Asian man was called a “disease-spreading P***” while out shopping.

Saima Afzal, a community inclusion activist and Blackburn councillor, said the disease spreads irrespective of race or religion in any high-contact location, whether it be care homes, cruise ships, football crowds – or Asian households.

Ms Afzal, who received an MBE for services to policing and community relations, said: “People are hearing: ‘Muslim, coronavirus, Niqab, death.’ You are going to start feeling a little bit of angst by it.

“People need to just be a bit more empathetic, step back from making this a race issue or a religious issue.

“No-one is suggesting for the data not to be put out there. Now we are finding a knock-on effect from that, which is not good for anyone.

“We have got to be honest about the data, but we have to also manage the impact.

“I’m worried just as much about the negative impact on cohesion.”

Leicester is still in a form of lockdown following a spike in cases and has been joined by a number of former mill towns and cities in northern England, suffering increased outbreak numbers and also home to high Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage populations.

Blackburn and Pendle in Lancashire, Oldham and Rochdale in Greater Manchester and Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Rotherham in Yorkshire are now on a Public Health England (PHE) watchlist – alongside Luton, Northampton and Peterborough in the south and midlands.

Requests from PA to speak to public health directors in Rochdale, Blackburn and Oldham were not responded to.

Ms Afzal added: “There is a strong feeling that some sections of media are normalising the racialisation of this debate, my own view is also that some sections of media are guilty of this – be it wittingly or unwittingly.

“I have heard lots of judgmental narrative about how multi-generational households are a ‘problem’, that we ‘Asians have large families’ and so our lifestyle is causing the disease to spread.

“Every member of this community doesn’t want the cases to rise. It is just really unfortunate Eid is in the middle of it. It could have been Christmas.

“There are always going to be those that don’t understand or don’t care, but that is never a justification to blame and label all sections of the community.

“It is not about us doing something wrong, it is about the circumstances; poverty, multi-generational housing, asymptomatic transmission.

“I’m asking for sympathy and empathy and not being judgmental, otherwise we are going to have a real problem on our hands.”

Public health statistics show black people and ethnic minorities from south Asia have higher death and infection rates than other population groups.

Health experts say greater health inequalities and more underlying health issues are partly to blame, along with cultural and traditional differences.

Asians often have bigger families living together with older generations in smaller terraced houses, with many in public-facing jobs such as in the NHS or taxi drivers, creating a greater risk of household transmission.

Mosques have brought in a raft of measures including volunteers manning doors using devices to take temperatures as worshippers arrive, limiting the numbers allowed at prayers and a ban on hugging and shaking hands.

Shadim Hussain, of the Bradford Foundation Trust and CEO of My Foster Family – a fostering network for black and ethnic minority families, said: “I think some communities are more challenged by the nature of how they congregate, carry out prayers, family gatherings.

“It can be seen from the towns and cities that have been highlighted publicly, those still showing high numbers of cases, Leicester, Bradford, Blackburn.

“There’s obviously a concern around with Eid coming up and at a time when large gatherings do take place but from the work I have done here locally in Bradford with the council for mosques and other organisations, I have been pleasantly surprised by the efforts to make sure places of worship are well prepared.

“The communities are in a much better position. The message has got through.

“I think you are always going to get an element of your young people who might still want to go out.

“By and large I think there’s a clear recognition that it’s Eid at home this year.”

PA