While local authority has highest infection rate, cases are not spread equally – and ethnicity is key factor
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From his fishmongers in the Blackburn suburb of Bastwell, Zohar Mahaldar sees and hears it all. “It’s getting very frustrating,” he said. He can’t quite believe how many people he has to shoo out of the shop for not wearing a mask, despite Blackburn having the highest overall Covid-19 infection rate in the UK.
People don’t want to take responsibility for their own health, he complained. “They say, ‘but it’s written by the almighty!’ They think if it’s Allah’s will, he will protect them. But I say to them: ‘Allah also gave you a brain’.” It’s suicide not taking Covid seriously, he said: “And suicide is haram in our religion. It is not allowed.”
