ROME, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nearly 17,000 health care workers have been infected with the new coronavirus in Italy, more than two-thirds of them women, the country’s public health institute said.
The figure accounts for 10 percent of Italy’s officially registered infections.
The ISS public health institute did not report fatality figures, but a study released Thursday by the FNOMCeO medical association said COVID-19 has killed 125 doctors in Italy.
Media reports Friday said that at least 34 nurses have also died of the disease.
Italy’s total COVID-19 death toll stands at 22,170, although doctors say the real figure could be double the official one in some of the worst-hit provinces.
Several Italian doctors have expressed fears that infected medics may have been unwittingly spreading the disease to their patients in the early weeks of the outbreak.
SPAIN’s death toll increased to nearly 19,500, government figures showed on Friday.
The country reported 585 new fatalities in the past 24 hours, but said it had revised its counting mechanism, making the figures hard to compare to previous daily tolls.
The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 19,478, the third highest in the world after the United States and Italy.
RUSSIA said Friday it had recorded 32,008 coronavirus cases, including a record 4,070 in the last 24 hours, with officials warning that Moscow was two to three weeks away from a peak in infections.
Official figures showed more than half of the new cases were registered in Moscow and the surrounding region. So far 273 deaths have been recorded in Russia, including 41 in the last 24 hours.
Moscow, Europe’s largest city with some 12 million inhabitants, has been under lockdown since the end of March but officials have complained that many residents are flouting confinement rules.
Under confinement rules that Muscovites have to observe until at least May 1, they are only allowed to leave their homes to go to work, walk their dogs, take out trash or visit their nearest shop.
This week city authorities tightened the lockdown by introducing a digital permit system, requiring that anyone travelling by car or public transport obtain a pass.
Russia has carried out more than 1.7 million coronavirus tests, though there have been concerns about their reliability. — NNN-AGENCIES
