Are Coronavirus Lockdown Messages Getting Through To Minority Groups?
Updated: See the latest stories on the coronavirus outbreak.
From figuring out who qualifies for work, school and travel, to where to get help and how to exercise, or whether children can visit parents who are separated, the coronavirus lockdown has already proved confusing for many.
But in communities where English is not the first language, there are fears some messages are being missed altogether.
Doctors of The World, an independent humanitarian movement that helps excluded people access healthcare, has produced Covid-19 advice for people in 34 languages – in partnership with the British Red Cross, Migrant Help and Clear Voice.
Many, though, believe the constantly changing situation is still not reaching some members of different communities.
“I think people need to hear the coronavirus messages in their own language to have that connection and recognition that it is something that is about them too,” Saima Mohsin, a British Pakistani woman living in south London, told HuffPost UK.
″Unless you see someone who looks like you and sounds like you, you do not necessarily think that what they are talking about applies to you.”
Mohsin is frustrated that bodies such as the World Health Organisation or Public Health England (PHE) have not developed simple coronavirus video messages in all the different and diverse languages that exist in the UK.
Unless you see someone who looks like you and sounds like you, you do not necessarily think that what they are talking about applies to you.Saima Mohsin
Mohsin added: “There is massive information overload at the moment with daily briefings and health information – and there is also a lot of conflicting information.
″A lot of people who are not from an English background are probably watching lots of different channels from their countries of heritage and are being bombarded with a lot of confusing and contradictory information.
″But not everyone watches TV and what is needed is messages in different...
