Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Aug 08, 2025

Your ethnicity could soon be recorded when you get a COVID-19 test. Would you be OK with that?

Your ethnicity could soon be recorded when you get a COVID-19 test. Would you be OK with that?

People's cultural backgrounds and the languages they speak could soon be recorded when they get a COVID-19 test, an "essential" move experts say will help governments respond to future outbreaks but should have happened much sooner.

The Health Department has confirmed it is "actively considering" capturing cultural and linguistic diversity data, cautioning it would only collect information in a way that is "useful and respectful".

Community leaders and academics have been pushing for data collection on ethnicity in the same way gender, Indigenous background and age are recorded.

University of Technology Sydney sociology emeritus professor Andrew Jakubowicz said the information was crucial.

"It's important to know if particular groups have been affected badly, it's important to know if groups have been missed out in testing regime," he said.


"It's important what networks exist in local areas and how that might help trackers get to the source.

"It also helps us know which groups are the most vulnerable because they haven't been caught up in the testing regime."

The consideration by the Health Department comes after criticism of the Federal Government for its handling of ethnic communities during the pandemic, with an expert panel warning earlier this year of a "missed opportunity" to protect at-risk groups such as migrants.

The ABC last week also revealed the Department of Home Affairs had used Google Translate in an effort to communicate with multicultural communities during the pandemic.

Ethnic minorities are among those at a higher risk of becoming ill from coronavirus and passing it on without realising because they are more likely to have a chronic disease and less likely to engage with public health messages.

Professor Jakubowicz said recording ethnicity would have been beneficial much earlier, when the pandemic began.

"I've been pushing for this since April and I think perhaps we would have done better in some of the situations in Victoria, in Melbourne in particular," he said.

"If we had been collecting this data early on, we would have become alerted to some of the patterns which have now become clear in retrospect.

The fact we're only discovering this later on rather than while it's happening is a fairly scary finding."



Multicultural communities in Melbourne were the origins of some of the first outbreaks in Victoria's second wave.


But Professor Jakubowicz acknowledged concerns about individual security and racism involved with data collection on ethnicity.

"It's one of the reasons governments have been worried about this — if the data is misinterpreted or used in ways that damage communities," he said.

The first outbreaks of the second wave in Melbourne's outer suburbs were in the homes of culturally diverse communities.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton later acknowledged the State Government had not always properly engaged with those groups.

Diversity consultant Tasneem Chopra said the information would also allow officials to target resources and better engage community leaders.

"If the data is indicating that there's one particular community group more so than others that's presenting itself as testing positive, this is an opportunity for systems and health service providers to be more creative in the way they're engaging," she said.

In a report issued in September by peak national multicultural body Federation of Ethnic Community Councils Australia (FECCA), it described the "diversity data deficit" in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic as an "omission of serious concern".

It also said the data would be "essential to inform targeted public health initiatives" to ethnic communities, while helping governments respond comprehensively to future disease outbreaks or pandemics.


Tasneem Chopra says the information collated from tests could mean service providers could engage more creatively with communities.


NZ already recording ethnicity


Countries like New Zealand are already recording ethnicity when testing for COVID-19.

Senior lecturer at the University of Otago, Lesley Gray, said it had been a valuable part of the country's pandemic response.

"It's important to monitor the health outcomes to achieve health equity," she said.

"It certainly helps us identify where people are acquiring the cases.

"In terms of our interest in health equity, we're already [asking] — although we've had a small number of people die from COVID 19 in this country — why are our Maori statistics so high?

"That's likely to relate to poorness, previous health experiences, colonisation, so we need to know how we can best protect our more vulnerable populations."

Taskforce set up to mitigate health impact


The Australian Government has also set up a taskforce to help it mitigate the health impact of COVID-19 for people from multicultural backgrounds.

It comes after "nonsensical" and "laughable" language translations of COVID-19 public health messages were distributed to multicultural communities, prompting fears migrants and refugees would lose trust in authorities' handling of the coronavirus pandemic.


Some of the Government's messages were poorly translated.


The Federal Government is still finalising the membership of the taskforce, but the ABC understands it will be headed by Lucas De Toca, the acting first assistant secretary of the COVID-19 Primary Care Response Team.

Dr De Toca currently co-chairs the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group on COVID-19.

A spokesman for the Health Department it was establishing the advisory group "in recognition of the challenges that some individuals and communities face in relation to public health interfaces and access to health services in the context of the pandemic".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
×