Much has been written about the novel coronavirus now known as covid-19 since the first cases were reported in December 2019. However, one aspect of the virus’s spread that I do not think has received adequate attention is the occupational protection that is being afforded to healthcare workers, which is a critical challenge in this outbreak.
The WHO has been recording the number of confirmed cases of covid-19 globally, although there are not (as far as I’m aware) any official reports on the number of cases among healthcare workers globally. Until 14 February, all we’ve had in China have been anecdotal reports. We have seen, for example, 14 healthcare workers (one doctor and 13 nurses) from a neurosurgery department infected during an operation in Wuhan. A leading expert in pulmonary medicine, who was dispatched from Beijing by the National Health Commission to Wuhan to investigate the outbreak, contracted covid-19 during his field visit. Sadly, on 25 January, the first fatality among healthcare workers in China was confirmed. On 14 February, we had the first official announcement by the National Health Commission on the number of health workers affected. The government reported that as of midnight on 11 February, a total of 1716 medical workers had been infected by covid-19 and six had died.
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