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Mexico tops the list, with at least 1,320 victims, followed by the United States (1,077) and the United Kingdom (649), according to the Amnesty International statement accessed by the Lusa Agency.
Nations like India (573) and South Africa (240) “have had more cases in recent months” of deaths of infected health workers.
For Amnesty International’s Director of Economic and Social Justice, Steve Cockburn, “the death of more than 7,000 people while trying to save other lives is a crisis on an impressive scale.”
“Every health professional has the right to be safe at work and it is a scandal that so many are paying the highest price,” he stresses.
Steve Cockburn also warns that “so many months after the start of the pandemic, health workers continue to die at terrible levels, in countries like Mexico, Brazil and the United States.”
“The rapid spread of infections in South Africa and India shows the need for all states to act,” he notes.
“There must be global cooperation to ensure that all healthcare professionals receive the appropriate protective equipment so that they can continue their vital work without risking their own lives,” concludes Steve Cockburn.
On July 13, Amnesty International had published a report that recorded the deaths of more than 3,000 health workers from COVID-19.
Now, the most recent report from this organization notes that the latest figures “are driven by increasing infection rates in various locations, as well as the availability of new data sources.”
The document also emphasizes that the data cannot always be directly comparable due to the different collection methods used and the definitions of health professionals used in different countries.
“It is also likely that these figures correspond to a significantly lower estimate, thanks to the underreporting of cases by national authorities,” he adds.
The Amnesty International report also explores the situation of the pandemic in Brazil, where at least 634 health workers died infected with covid-19.
According to the Brazilian Public Health Association (Abrasco), health professionals complain about the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the lack of clear protocols for the treatment of infections, the lack of support in mental health or the precarious contracts of workers hired on an urgent basis, reveals the document.
Amnesty International’s research was carried out by analyzing data on deaths among health professionals, obtained from various sources.
“Sources include obituaries, government figures, lists compiled by national medical associations, and lists and obituaries published in the world’s media,” the report explains.
The coronavirus pandemic that causes covid-19 has already killed at least 857,824 people and infected more than 25.8 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal 1,827 people died of the 58,633 confirmed as infected, according to the latest bulletin from the General Health Directorate.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
