A group of prominent British-Asian celebrities have created a health advice video targeting the Asian community.
The urgent video message was made following reports of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.
The video features Nitin Ganatra, Sanjeev Bhaskar OBE, Meera Syal CBE, Ameet Chana, Adil Ray OBE, Saira Khan, Shivani Ghai, Naughty Boy, Abdullah Afzal, Ranvir Singh, Gurinder Chadha OBE, Jassa Alhuwalia, Shahid Afridi, Nina Wadia, Anoushka Shankar, Bhavna Limbachia, Shin and Anita Rani.
"We all felt that we had to do something during these unprecedented times. It is evident that some of the advice and messages are not getting to some communities when they need it most,” said Adil Ray, actor & broadcaster and one of the organisers of the video.
“We hope that we can make even just a small difference."
Celebrities including Konnie Huq, Mehwish Hayat, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Krupa Pattani, Shobu Kapoor, Sonali Shah, Wasim Akram, Wasim Khan MBE, Adil Rashid, Archie Panjabi, Parminder Nagra, Nikki Bedi, Nikesh Shukla, Satnam Rana, Nitin Sawhney CBE, Lisa Aziz and Channi Singh will be featured in future videos.
A report by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre on the first 3,883 critically ill COVID-19 patients have found that more than a third were non-white (33.6 per cent).
The BAME groups form 18 per cent of the UK population.
The health advice in the video was developed in conjunction with Public Health England advice and Dr Sam Everinton, Chair of Tower Hamlets CCG, a statement said.
