The Covid-19 fatality rate for men who drive for work is among the highest recorded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A total of 2,494 deaths involving the coronavirus in the working age population (those aged 20 to 64 years) of England and Wales were registered between 9 March and 20 April.
Nearly two-thirds of these deaths were among men (1,612 deaths)
The ONS said male taxi drivers and chauffeurs (36.4 deaths per 100,000) and bus and coach drivers (26.4 deaths per 100,000) followed men working as security guards (45.7 deaths per 100,000) as the occupations with the highest mortality rates.
Looking at wider groups of workers, the ONS found men employed in the lowest skilled occupations, including construction workers and cleaners, had the highest rate of death overall, with 21.4 fatalities per 100,000 males.
The major group with the next highest mortality rate was caring, leisure and other service occupations (17.9 deaths per 100,000 males), which include occupations such as nursing assistants, care workers and ambulance drivers.
The ONS cautioned: “The analysis does not prove conclusively that the observed rates of death involving COVID-19 are necessarily caused by differences in occupational exposure.
“We adjusted for age, but not for other factors such as ethnic group and place of residence.”
