Forced to adapt due to COVID-19, South Asian immigrants concerned about underlying health conditions - Multicultural

WEB - New Canadian Media - Ottawa, 14/04/2020 - Article, English

High blood pressure may be one of the underlying health conditions that make a Covid-19 infection a lot more severe for South Asian Canadians. Image credit: Photopin  Image source: New Canadian Media website.

Summary: Devyaani Datta - Preliminary research of COVID-19 data reaffirms a troubling reality: many of society’s most vulnerable populations face a greater chance of falling sick. For Canada’s South Asian populations, this news is met with a degree of alarm. Rakesh Kumar, an accountant who recently arrived in Calgary from India, is one of thousands of new Canadians from South Asia who are anxious about their health. Kumar suffers from both high blood pressure and high cholesterol and is aware that he’s in a difficult situation. Asked whether South Asians in Canada are at greater risk to fall ill from the pandemic or are more likely to get more severe infections, Dr. Maher Hussain, clinical director of the South Asian Canadians Health and Social Services in Brampton, said they are vulnerable on both counts. Citing a study from McMaster University, he said, “South Asian people in Canada have higher rates of heart disease, double the rate of diabetes and are more prone to becoming overweight compared to white people.”