The outrage that has gripped many nations in the wake of the death of George Floyd is likely to have been fuelled by resentment over Covid-19’s extreme impact on black communities, one of the world’s top health experts warned on Saturday. David Nabarro, professor of global health at Imperial College London, said the disease was now having a disproportionately severe impact on the most disadvantaged sections of those nations that had been the slowest to tackle the pandemic and who now have the worst infection rates. “Some of the anger now being expressed among people of colour may be traced to the fact they have actually had to carry the brunt of this,” said Nabarro, who is also an envoy for the World Health Organization on Covid-19. Nabarro said the problems posed by the coronavirus had been exacerbated by heads of state who had initially presented the disease as a mild threat. The US was a clear example of a country that had failed to react quickly to the appearance of the disease. Other western nations were also at fault, he added. As a result, the virus spread quickly to communities whose members could least protect themselves from infection. “Communities of black and poor people have been exposed to excess risk because it is much harder for them to take sick leave or to protect themselves,” he said. “They are bearing the brunt of this disease. “Many countries did respond quickly to protect citizens from Covid. But in other countries, heads of state made light of the threat. That is why the United States and some other western countries face a much bigger challenge compared with those that acted with speed.” The crucial point is that black people and poor people in these countries have had to continue working throughout the pandemic, triggering resentment that may have helped fuel the current racial protests that have swept many nations, he suggested. “All this is happening at a time when there is a heightened sense of injustice among people of colour,” said Nabarro. “In Kansas, black people are dying at seven times the rate of white people while in Washington and New York their death rate is three times the rate for white people. This virus is deeply ingrained in society and is touching more people of colour.” Similarly in the UK, it has been revealed that black and Asian ethnic groups are up to twice as likely to die from Covid-19. An illustration of the differing national responses to the impact of Covid is provided by meat-processing workers who work side by side in cramped conditions and who have suffered major outbreaks of the disease, said Nabarro. When this danger was revealed, Germany swiftly introduced measures to protect workers. By contrast Donald Trump simply ordered meat plant workers to keep going to work despite the fact that many were dying of Covid-19 and spreading the virus to their families. “This crisis should not be about the visibility and the positioning of our leaders,” said Nabarro. “We need a mindset change. This virus is going to be with us for the foreseeable future and we are going to have to recognise that those with the least power and resources are the ones who needed the greatest support.”