Governments must be held accountable for the deaths of health and essential workers who they have failed to protect from COVID-19 as discovered by Amnesty International, as it released a new report documenting the experiences of health workers around the world. The organization’s analysis of available data has revealed that more than 3,000 health workers are known to have died from COVID-19 worldwide — a figure which is likely to be a significant underestimate.
Alarmingly, Amnesty International documented cases where health workers who raise safety concerns in the context of the COVID-19 response have faced retaliation, ranging from arrest and detention to threats and dismissal.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic still accelerating around the world, we are urging governments to start taking health and essential workers’ lives seriously”.
Alfred Yambo
Countries yet to see the worst of the pandemic must not repeat the mistakes of governments whose failure to protect workers’ rights has had devastating consequences.
There is currently no systematic global tracking of how many health and essential workers have died after contracting COVID-19.
However, Amnesty International has collated and analyzed a wide range of available data that shows that over 3,000 health workers are known to have died after contracting COVID-19 in 79 countries around the world.
Appreciate the health workers.
