Black and Asian people are significantly more likely to be infected with coronavirus than white people, a major British study showed Thursday.

Black people are twice as likely to contract coronavirus as white people, and people from Asian backgrounds are one and a half times as likely, researchers at the universities of Leicester and Nottingham found after analyzing 50 studies in Britain and the United States that involved nearly 19 million coronavirus patients.

The disproportionate impact of coronavirus on different social groups are believed to be attributed to various factors, such as greater levels of deprivation, living in larger, multi-generational households, and having more public-facing jobs where working from home is not an option, The Guardian newspaper reported.

Manish Pareek, an associate clinical professor in infectious diseases at the University of Leicester, said the findings showed an urgent need for more targeted public support for these groups.

"It's about trying to make sure interventions are available early on, so people can seek advice and care at early time points," Pareek was quoted as saying.

The study, published in the journal EClinicalMedicine, is the first comprehensive review of published research and preliminary papers that focus on the impact of coronavirus on different ethnic groups.

The report came as the number of people who have died with coronavirus in Britain passed 50,000 on Wednesday, marking the country the fifth one in the world to hit the tragic milestone, following the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.

To bring life back to normal, countries including Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to find a vaccine. 

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