COVID-19 has exposed huge disparities in the French healthcare system, according to two new studies on how poverty and racism have impacted on those who test positive for the virus.

A study by the national statistics agency published last month showed that mortality rates were disproportionately higher for people born in Africa or Asia than for those born in France.

A second study by French economists exposed higher infection rates in the country’s poorer cities compared with the richer ones.

One of the driving factors of the disparities, according to the researchers, was “a higher share of workers frequently in contact with the public and a higher share of overcrowded housing.”

Mortality rates rocketed in the Seine-Saint-Denis region that forms the north-east suburb of Paris by 129 per cent in March and April compared with the previous year — the highest rise in France.

Health official Marie Pastor explained that a shortage of GPs and a “feeling of distance from institutions” had contributed to the increase, along with a high concentration of essential workers who had been more exposed to the virus.

Seine-Saint-Denis has twice the unemployment rate of the national average, a third of its population are immigrants and many more are the descendants of immigrants.

Health advocacy group Banlieues Sante founder Abdelaali el Badaoui was not surprised by the findings as France appears to be heading towards a new rise in coronavirus cases.

“The sickest are those the furthest out [from mainstream society], because of the cultural or linguistic barrier, as well as those who can’t afford supplemental insurance that makes it easier to access specialised treatment,” he said.

The organisation of doctors, social workers and health officials has been working for 15 years in 300 mostly poor French neighbourhoods populated by immigrants.

They deliver food and basic protective gear, translate public-health guidance on their social media accounts and offer translators to help people navigate the French healthcare system.

The system has been decimated by cuts, driven by President Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal reforms.

The bureaucracy involved in accessing healthcare and France’s system of co-payments make it harder for new immigrants and the poor. Not everyone can afford the cost of travel to reach specialists.

French authorities have been criticised for failing to take measures to address the disparity, despite the evidence presented.

France has recorded 207,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 30,000 deaths. Emergency measures have been extended after cases more than doubled in the past few weeks.