Male security guards, taxi drivers and construction workers among those at highest risk of dying with Covid-19 - ONS

Workers in low-skilled jobs are the most likely to die after contracting Covid-19, with male security guards among those with the highest death rates, new figures reveal.

Male construction workers, taxi drivers, bus and coach drivers, plant processing workers and chefs are also among those with the highest coronavirus death rates, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, were not found to have a higher mortality rate compared with others of the same age and sex.

There was a slightly raised rate among care home workers.

Among male workers, the ONS said several occupations had raised rates of deaths involving Covid-19, including taxi drivers and chauffeurs (36.4 deaths per 100,000), bus and coach drivers (26.4 deaths per 100,000), chefs (35.9 deaths per 100,000), and sales and retail assistants (19.8 deaths per 100,000).

Men working as security guards had one of the highest rates, with 45.7 deaths per 100,000.

While looking into which occupations are at risk of potential exposure to Covid-19, ONS also found three in four workers (75%) in occupations requiring frequent contact with people and exposure to disease are women.

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For female workers, the ONS did not identify any specific jobs with raised rates of death involving Covid-19, instead highlighting only one broad group where the Covid-19 mortality rate was significantly higher than the equivalent rate among women of the same age in the general population: caring, leisure and other service occupations.

The ONS said its analysis “does not prove conclusively that the observed rates of death involving Covid-19 are necessarily caused by differences in occupational exposure”.

Figures had been adjusted for age, but not for other factors such as ethnic group and place of residence.

The findings could change as more deaths are registered, the ONS added.

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