UK health & care worker death toll 2nd only to Russia

THE number of health worker deaths in England and Wales is among the highest recorded in the world, a new report by Amnesty International has found.

At least 540 health and social care workers have died from Covid-19 in England and Wales alone, putting the UK second only to Russia, which has recorded 545 health worker deaths.

Amnesty analysed a wide range of available data showing that more than 3,000 health workers have died from the virus in 79 countries.

The countries with the highest numbers of health worker deaths were Russia (545), UK (England and Wales: 540, including 262 social care workers), USA (507),

Brazil (351), Mexico (248), Italy

(188), Egypt (111), Iran (91),

Ecuador (82) and Spain (63), the data shows.

Some early studies also suggest that more than 60% of health workers who died in the UK identified as black, Asian or minority ethnic.

Kate Allen, Amnesty’s UK’s Director, said the study points to a “catastrophic failure to provide proper PPE” and an inadequate response to “alarmingly high death rates among BAME health workers”.

She added: “This crisis is far from over and an independent inquiry into the Government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is urgently needed.”