“A figure probably greatly underestimated” begin Amnesty International report, which puts the (minimum) number of caregiver deaths from coronavirus at 3,000 worldwide. In a report published on July 13, the NGO recounts the experience of health personnel through the Covid-19 crisis.
The organization laments that he “there is currently no systematic global tracking of the number of virus-related deaths among health and other essential workers“. But according to the few data available, out of 79 countries, the first count would be 3,000 deaths : the United States would thus have lost 507 caregivers, Russia 545, the United Kingdom 540 including 262 social service agents, Brazil 351, Mexico 248, Italy 188, Egypt 111, Iran 91, Ecuador 82 and Spain 63.
Largely underestimated figures
But the data is questionable and incomplete, the report says. In France, for example, only some of the hospitals and healthcare centers provided their information on this subject. According to data from Public Health France, from March 1 to June 5, 16 deaths: 4 caregivers, 5 doctors, 6 non-caregivers and 1 “other” health professional, on the hospital side. But the Pension Fund of Doctors of France published at the beginning of June the information according to which 6,000 liberal doctors had applied for work stoppage compensationand 46 of them had died from the virus…
In addition, the Amnesty International report highlights the difficult working conditions, the lack of equipment, the personal economic investment of caregivers to protect themselves from the virus… the NGO also identifies “alarming cases of health professionals who, after expressing their concerns about the measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic, have been subject to reprisalswhether arrests, detentions, threats or dismissals.”
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