Pandemic claimed lives of 1,80,000 healthcare workers till May this year: WHO

The COVID19 pandemic has killed an estimated 80000 to 180000 healthcare workers from January 2020 till May this year the World Health Organization WHO saidThe estimates are derived from a new WHO working paper based on the 345 million COVID19 related deaths reported to WHO as at May 2021ldquoThe backbone of every health system is its workforce COVID19 is a powerful demonstration of just how much we rely on these men and women and how vulnerable we all are when the people who protect our health are themselves unprotectedrdquo said WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the WHO weekly COVID19 briefing on ThursdayAvailable data from 119 countries in the working paper suggest that by September 2021 two in five healthcare workers were fully vaccinated on average with considerable difference across regions and economic groupingsLess than one in 10 have been fully vaccinated in the African and Western Pacific regions while 22 mostly highincome countries reported that above 80 per cent of their healthcare workers are fully vaccinated A few large highincome countries have not yet reported data to WHOChina civil aviation suspends five airlinesThe Civil Aviation Administration of China has suspended five Chinese and international airlines after COVID19 cases were reported on flights Samaa TV reported on Friday According to a notice dated October 15 the authority had to take the decision after six cases of Coronavirus were confirmed in passengers on Air China flight CA780 Frankfurt to Changchun that entered the country on October 1Beijing offers booster shotsChinarsquos capital Beijing has begun offering booster shots against COVID19 four months before the city and surrounding regions are to host the Winter Olympics Anyone 18 or older who have received twodose Chinese vaccines and belong to atrisk groups would be eligible for the additional shot state media reportedPfizer booster shot shows full protectionPfizer and BioNTech has announced that a largescale trial of their COVID19 vaccine booster showed it restored full protection against the disease In a Phase 3 randomised controlled trial a PfizerBioNTech booster dose was administered to more than 10000 individuals 16 years of age and older reports Xinhua news agencyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the contents in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever