Health Workers Account 14% COVID Cases Globally: WHO

Around 14% of the COVID-19 cases are of health workers and as high as 35% are found in some low-to middle-income economies this percentage can be as high as 35%, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

According to the Union health ministry data, Telangana (18%), Maharashtra (16%), Delhi (14%), Karnataka (13%), Puducherry (12%) and Punjab (11%) have a high COVID-19 infection rate among healthcare workers.

"In India, as on 11 September over 282 healthcare workers, who lost their lives due to covid-19, claimed benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme, Minister of State for health, Ashwini Kumar Choubey had informed Rajya Sabha", a Mint report said.

"Although not representative, data from many countries indicates that covid-19 infection among health workers is far greater than general population", the WHO said.

"However, data availability and quality are limited, and it is not possible to establish whether health workers were infected in the work place or in community settings", it added.

"In addition to physical risks, the pandemic has placed extraordinary levels of psychological stress on health workers exposed to high-demand settings for long hours, living in constant fear of disease exposure while separated from family and facing social stigmatization," said WHO.

The WHO, yesterday released a Charter for World Patient Safety Day that includes steps to protect health workers from violence; to improve their mental health; to protect them from physical and biological hazards; to advance national programmes for health worker safety, and to connect health worker safety policies to existing patient safety policies, the Mint report stated.