Monday June 29, 2020
Church Road in Brent runs through the heart of the Church End estateCredit: David New - The Sun
A SHOPKEEPER, butcher and tailor are among 36 people who have died within a half-mile radius on a deprived London estate which has become one of the UK's worst-hit communities.
Church Road in Brent runs through the heart of the Church End estateCredit: David New - The Sun
Coronavirus has taken a huge toll on Church End in Brent, North West London, a small estate with a large British-Somali population.
Brent has recorded the worst overall age-standardised rate in the UK with 210.9 deaths per 100,000 population.
Many of the workers in Church End are hero frontline workers, such as taxi drivers, cleaners, shopkeepers and bus drivers.
Some are believed to have contracted the virus at work and brought it back to their homes, where parents and vulnerable grandparents live and there is no space for people to shield.
Others reside in multi-occupancy homes where families share toilets or kitchen facilities with others.
Many of those who died were men aged in their late 40s to early 60s.
Residents of Church End who have died from Covid-19 include Alem Goitom, 61, a recently retired bus driver from Eritrea, who died in late April, and Abdiqaadir Mohamed Farah, who ran a business in Hammersmith and encouraged young people into sports. He died on 24 March.
Aweys Ahmed Imaan, known locally as Sheikh Aweys, who ran a shop on Church End, died on March 29, the Guardian reported.
Musami Mursal Abdi, a tailor who migrated to the UK in the 90s, also died from coronavirus.
A British-Pakistani man who worked as a butcher on the road also died after contracting the virus.
Victoria Ling, who was born and raised in the borough and works there as a nurse in a GP practice, told the Guardian: "We've had households where whole families have been wiped out.
"I was talking to patients who would say my aunt has died, my uncle has died, my dad has died. It was literally every day."
As well as having the highest death rate, Brent has the highest number of workers on furlough and has seen a huge jump in people claiming universal credit.
The UK's overall coronavirus death toll is 43,550, the worst in Europe.
However the Government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which are thought to have passed 54,000.