Pop star Beyoncé hasn’t performed during the Together At Home concert, but she did send a video message, in which she highlighted that Covid-19 is disproportionately affecting African-American citizens.

Data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that 33% of people who’ve been taken to hospital with the virus are African-American, yet only 13% of the US population is African-American.

“This virus is killing black people at an alarmingly high rate here in America,” said the singer, citing a separate report suggesting that, in her home city of Houston, Texas, 57% of fatal Covid-19 cases are among African-Americans.

She said the impact was particularly high because black Americans “disproportionately belong to essential parts of the workforce, that do not have the luxury of working from home,” including delivery workers, mail carriers and sanitation employees.

“Please protect yourselves,” she concluded. “We are one family and we need you.”