India: 87k Health Workers Infected with COVID-19

The healthcare workers are equally affected as the general public in COVID-19 as more than 87,000 health workers have been infected with the virus in six states- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal, and Gujarat which accounts to 74% of the case burden and over 86% of the 573 deaths due to the infection, according to a report of Times of India.

According to the report, Maharashtra alone, which has the highest number of over 7.3lakhs confirmed COVID-19 cases so far, accounts for around 28% of the infected healthcare workers and more than 50% of the total deaths.

The report further stated that while Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had tested more than 1 lakh health workers each till August 28, Karnataka reported only 12,260 infected health workers which is almost half the burden in Maharashtra.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu reported 11,169 cases that included doctors, nurses and Asha workers. The three states together accounted for 55% of the total cases among health workers.

Despite the high number of cases, the government has received only 143 claims since April under Rs 50lakh COVID-19 insurance scheme for health workers engaged in COVID mitigation activities.

According to sources, the wide gap between the number of deaths and claims could be because all the casualties may not be eligible under the scheme. Besides, the claims are a bit slow in coming as families of the dead take time to apply and do the required paperwork.