1,062 health workers in Philippines infected with COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health on Wednesday reported that 1,062 healthcare workers in the Philippines had been infected with the novel coronavirus.
Healthcare workers accounted for around 16% of the country’s confirmed infections, which stood at 6,710 as of Wednesday.
Of the number, 422 are doctors, 386 are nurses, 30 are medical technologists, 21 are radiologic technologists and 51 are nursing assistants. The remaining 152 individuals are either barangay health workers or frontline administrative personnel.
Twenty-six frontline medical workers had died or nearly 6% of the total 446 deaths recorded as of Wednesday.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday said the rate of infection among healthcare workers in the Philippines is higher than the two to three percent of medical workers infected in the region.
“It’s a bit worrisome,” Abdi Mahamud, WHO-Western Pacific Region COVID-19 incident manager, said as he described that the Philippines is “a bit of an outlier.”
“[We are] working very closely with ministers of health to determine reasons why the Philippines has high percentage among infected healthcare workers,” he said.
More than 2.5 million people across the globe have now contracted the new coronavirus. Of the figure, 177,496 have died.
