Lack of Sikh COVID19 data leads to call to funeral homes & Gurdwaras

Sikh organisations in the UK have urged funeral homes and Gurdwaras to help them collate data on Sikhs victims of the coronavirus, as they highlight that no public body is already doing so.

Data collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) currently has no specific Sikh information according to a statement from the Sikh Council UK (SCUK). As such, SCUK are calling for support from Gurdwaras and funeral homes on providing details of Sikhs that have passed from COVID19.

The statement comes at the same time as information suggesting minority communities are more likely to be affected by the outbreak, something the Sikh Federation UK have highlighted. The Sikh Federation UK, a Sikh legal and political advocacy group, have been campaigning for a separate Sikh ethnicity category in the UK census for over five years.

Cosigned by the Sikh Doctors Association, the statement goes on to say, “Due to this critical data gap, as a community we must again collect our own data ourselves. This will be essential to understand how and where this virus is affecting the Sikh community and importantly the proportionality of Sikhs suffering compared with the UK population.”

However, the UK NHS (National Health Service) also do not reveal ethnicities when it comes to death toll figures on COVID19, due to patient confidentiality. As such, the process of collating such data has been taken up by groups such as The Sikh Network, Sikh Federation UK and Sikh Council UK.

Are minorities being hit hardest by coronavirus? What is clear is data is a must. This was picked up early on, but Sikh community don’t have infrastructure to quickly provide reliable data in current circumstances. We are about to release Sikh data ????https://t.co/XURdYFbtKk

— Sikh Federation UK (@SikhFedUK) April 9, 2020

The Sikh Network UK highlighted data to claim that more Sikh specific information is “essential to save lives”. With evidence to show South-Asians and Indians are more likely to suffer with issues such as diabetes, this could indicate Sikhs could be at a higher risk of fatality on contracting the virus. This was echoed by Gurpreet Singh, one of the lead sevadaars (selfless servants) of the UK’s oldest Gurdwara in Shepherd’s Bush, who stated “It can only help the fight against any illness if it’s known whether there is a preponderance of it in any particular group. Anything that can help save lives should be supported.”

Data on Sikhs and the impact of Covid-19 is essential to help saves lives https://t.co/A1DLZWFYui pic.twitter.com/y7jjIgUemz

— The Sikh Network (@TheSikhNet) April 9, 2020

Speaking to the Times of India in an interview, Jas Singh of SFUK said “We want to get the data because we want to know if Sikhs are more prone to catching the virus. This is why we need a Sikh ethnic tick box.”

SFUK are set to release data they have collated on Sikh victims of COVID19, which Sikh PA will share accordingly.