Nearly 1,15,000 health and care workers have died due to Covid-19 since the pandemic began last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, hailing their sacrifice and asserting the need to protect and invest in healthcare workforce as a matter of urgency.

"We estimate that at least 1,15,000 health and care workers have paid the ultimate price in the service of others. Health and care workers do heroic things, but they are not superheroes. They are humans like the rest of us. Many feel frustrated, helpless and unprotected, with a lack of access to personal protective equipment and vaccines, and the tools to save lives," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the opening of the WHO's 74th World Health Assembly (WHA).