Almost one in four hospitalised immigrants in Norway is Somali, despite the diaspora there constituting only 0.8 percent of the Norwegian population. This has been attributed to cramped living conditions and their insufficient knowledge of the Norwegian language.

While the share of immigrants admitted to Norwegian hospitals with COVID-19 roughly corresponds to their proportion in the general population, there is one group that is strongly over-represented in the statistics.

Despite accounting for only 0.8 percent of the Norwegian population, Somalis constitute over 20 percent of immigrants treated for Covid-19, according the Norwegian Public Health Instutute (FHI). More than 829 immigrants are being treated for coronavirus; over 200 are Somalis, national broadcaster NRK reported.