A/75/329 stated in the guidelines that disease names should not include geographic locations nor cultural, population, industry or occupational references. 78. Systemic racism and inequality permeate public health responses to the pandemic. Discrimination in access to medical services is pervasive. Disparities in access to testing, to emergency medical services and to isolation centres, and in the ability to practise appropriate social distancing, are reported in nearly every submission that the Special Rapporteur has received. Pre-existing inequalities result in discrimination in access to health care and differential susceptibility to COVID-19 transmission. According to the Equal Rights Trust, a June 2020 review by Public Health England (an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom) found a likely correlation between the risk of transmission of the virus responsible for COVID-19 for black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in England, and prevailing health disparities, such as overcrowded housing, reliance on public transport, and living in densely populated areas. Similarly, the death rate for these communities is associated with a high underlying risk of co-morbidities, for example cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. 46 The review further noted that “the measures to control the spread of COVID-19 across the country may have led to further economic or housing instability”. 47 79. Furthermore, the Equal Rights Trust reported that a June 2020 study by the APM Research Lab in the United States had found that a quarter of COVID-19 deaths in the United States had been of black people (almost 22,000), although they constituted only about 13 per cent of the population. A Brazilian study of health service data o n 30,000 COVID-19 patients who had either recovered or died as at 18 May 2020 found that proportionately more black and mixed-race Brazilians (55 per cent) had died than whites (38 per cent), exposing similar underlying inequalities. 48 The Equal Rights Trust also reported on another study that found that the COVID-19-related death rate for indigenous peoples in Brazil was over 9 per cent, nearly double the 5.2 per cent rate among the general Brazilian population. 49 80. As compared with Jewish Israelis, Adalah reported major gaps in access to emergency medical services, COVID-19 testing, and isolation facilities for Palestinian citizens of Israel, including Palestinian Bedouin in the Negev, as well as Palestinian residents of Occupied East Jerusalem. Adalah stated that litigation and substantial pressure by civil society and political actors had prompted the Government to provide a minimum of health-related services. However, these gaps were still significant during the first wave of the pandemic, and Adalah n oted an apparent lack of preparedness for these groups in the second wave. 50 While the Israeli Ministry of Health publishes a daily update on COVID-19, Adalah reports that it does not include accurate data on the considerable population of Palestinian citi zens who live in mixed Jewish-Arab cities (e.g. Acre, Haifa and Ramla). They often live in segregated, overcrowded and poorer neighbourhoods that lack adequate health and social services, which puts them at higher risk for COVID-19. Adalah noted that “the lack of specific information on these towns was especially damaging during that crucial period for mapping the pandemic’s spread in order to formulate specific interventions in communities under heightened risk”. 51 __________________ 46 47 48 49 50 51 18/23 Equal Rights Trust submission, para. 15. Ibid., para. 15. Ibid., para. 16. Ibid., para. 17. Submission from Adalah, p. 3. Ibid., pp. 10–11. 20-11206