Check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at. Science. In this Global Pandemic the Worlds Health care web because have taken a massive load of responsibility on their shoulders. But who is caring for the Health Care Workers. Hundreds of thousands of Health Care Workers have been infected there is no official global death toll data has not been systematically collected but more than a 1000 doctors and nurses around the world a known to have died from coated 19. Tributes to their bravery and dedication have sprung up at memorials for the fall and have been held. The drums of clapping cannot protect them from this deadly illness. And candlelight vigils provide limited comfort for the lost lost and for the loss on theirs that could have saved us. A monica jones welcome to our coverage 900 special here on the news could Health Care Work be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world today we look at the situation of those who are fighting on the front lines of the pandemic heres an example from russia. Its 8 30 in the evening and cardiologist alexy earlyish has only just finished his shift hes been living in a hotel next to the hospital where he works alexei already had covered 19 but he says many doctors dont have that certainty. With me to go and they dont test a lot of medical workers i know hospitals where management doesnt allow tests so they can keep the statistics down so someone dies and isnt included in the coronavirus interesting. Statistic. As a medical student during the pandemic she decided to work as a volunteer nurse but she wasnt allowed to get tested for the disease herself and sometimes she also had to buy her own protective gear despite working at the common arca moscows most well respected coronavirus hospital. Initially i came to work in my own face masks i bought them online then for a while they gave us russian made respirator masks that work but i guess those ran out to my knees are point the russian authorities have admitted that early on protective gear was in dangerously short supply even the head doctor at coleman aka hospital got the coronavirus in march just after he gave russian president Vladimir Putin a tour of the facilities he recovered and the situation with protective gear has improved but some hospital authorities insist that if medical workers get infected that is their own fault. Or do not you when you were a lot of people where the protector. Gaurav for example because wearing the suit is very hot people dont want to put them on which is a dangerous mistake that increases their risk of infection. According to recent official statistics that risk was deadly for 101 medical workers but doctors have started keeping their own count of deaths there more than 300 names on what they call their memorial list one of the people who started the list is alexei he thinks the official numbers cant be trusted. With the Health Ministry doesnt categorize junior medical workers as medical workers at all for example theyve written up medical assistance as cleaners memorial list includes a lot of medical assistance and ambulance drivers. To work a month ago lattimer putin promised to reward frontline medical workers with additional payments but recently he reprimanded regional authorities for holding back lets listen to me listen to me carefully we agreed and i said very clearly that this money should be paid out for work with coronavirus patients you werent supposed to count hours and minutes spent exposed to the virus and that he just see. The official billboards around moscow praise doctors as russias heroes medical workers receive comparatively low salaries and are still waiting for their rewards. Alexei isnt counting on the bonus he says he would have to prove that he was infected with a covert 1000. 00 at work to qualify and he doesnt have time to fight he has another 12 hour shift tomorrow. How it catherine is the c. E. O. Of the International Council of nurses and he joins us now in geneva good to have you with us went to stand that is the International Council of nurses is a federation that represents more than 20000000 nurses Worldwide Supply haps we should start by asking what do we know about the Health Situation for those who are working on the front lines of this pandemic. We are very alarmed by the impact of coronavirus on the health of nurses and the Health Workforce over the last 3 months weve been tracking the rights of Health Care Workers infections around the world we have seen some countries with Health Worker infection right up to 30 percent and tragically were now where that 600 more than 600 nurses have died around the world as a result of corona virus we have collected this information through our associations on nursing associations because it is not being collected centrally and we are calling again very very strongly for the systematic and stand there lies collection of this information because we think its vital to our understanding right of the virus now as weve just seen this report i mean russia is among those countries that doesnt really release much accurate or official data but its not alone why is that why is its a difficult to get hold of official data here. We would like to see w. H. O. Firstly make a clear recommendation that this data should be collected but yes then it is for countries to agree to provide if you look at some of our data if you say it raises some glaring questions why can some countries such have such a high infection right and others have a low infection right why can some countries have a lot of coronavirus cases but the numbers of deaths of nurses actually be very very small if we currently stater in a standardized way it would be like understanding the fingerprints of the far assen it would help us to track and to treat and ultimately to defeat the virus but we need w. H. O. To make that recommendation and we need countries then to agree to collect it in a standardized way so which countries do you have in mind when you say that there are huge differences in the number of Health Care Workers and nurses infected with the disease. So weve seen in europe weve seen spain with a Health Care Worker infection rate of in excess of 20 percent in the island just in the last few days 30 percent being reported there but then we see other countries Singapore Less than one percent we think the average is probably around about 7 percent infection infection right youre right look this were relying on the information our associations of providing to us and they may be using different definitions so i dont have to put that caviar on it but thats why it makes it even more important we agree the definitions we collect them together in the same white well i mean there are alarming stories out there of Health Care Workers and nurses with covert 19 who still continue to work certainly for as long as they can 1st of all from what you hear can you confirm such stories and if so why would they do that. So the 1st thing to say is that we strongly believe that the high right of Health Care Worker infections is related to the lack of protective personal equipment Nurses Health workers protection necessary fees as important as other peoples they must be provided with the equipment and if they show symptoms they should then self isolate and not go to work but we went into this pandemic already 6000000 nurses short around the world thats about 20 percent of the nursing work force so our Health Systems are stretched very very thinly our Nurses Health workers are put under huge strain and stress and pressure and if theyre not at work they see the impact of that not just on placements but on their fellow workers as well the big issue here is that if these infection rates continue to go up if they are the magnitude we think they are if we start to see 2nd wave 2nd peaks we are simply not going to have the nurses the Health Workforce to be able to cope with that certainly something to to remember the next time we clap for health care where catherine c. Of the International Council of nurses in geneva thank you so much. Time for your questions now how over to our science correspondent today eric williams. Ive had to not about men attending in a space of preventive medication under therapy 19 is it illegitimate treatment option some studies do indicate it might have an anti inflammatory effect in treating certain respiratory diseases as well but the 1st thing i discovered in my search was that at the moment at least there are no recommendations from Reputable National or International Health authorities to take melatonin as either prevention or therapy for covert 19 i did find one paper urging more studies in that direction as well as an ongoing Clinical Trial involving Health Care Workers currently taking melatonin in bolivia but but it only concludes in the summer of 2021 so although taking the hormone to try to help with covert 900 symptoms or prevention might be a little more plausible and less harmful than a lot of other ideas floating around out there there doesnt yet seem to be any firm Scientific Evidence to back it up. Could you looking to godling as a preventive measure in some countries and most especially in japan gargling is viewed as a preventive measure that can help you stave off respiratory infections theres been plenty of studies looking at the effects of gargling regularly that that indicate some anti septics or even salt water can have an impact on microbial populations in your throat but but unfortunately almost all of them are pretty small scale so at this stage there is no solid evidence that gargling anything would prevent you from. Track tinker with 19. Derek williams there and that was south 900 special thanks for watching we do leave you however with one russian artist called evangelist see who wants to help the countrys health care where because she makes clay figures depicting doctors as superheroes flying to save the world and installs them around moscow leaving behind a hash tag that translates to protect dr us the hash tag can be used on instagram to find foundations accepting donations for protective equipment for doctors i said. Into the conflict zone in terms of minister. Even before the coronavirus pandemic lebanons economy was plummeting through the floor joining me from beirut this week as the countrys foreign minister last week 50. Years ago shared surgically for assistance what guarantee is good leadership that his government do any better than the previous was put. On. The terror cina a popular coastal vacation city in italy. But how are things there this year but at the oberoi hotel and Restaurant Owners are concerned that the corona restrictions have led to fewer guests and higher costs its not the only place on the town in riviera that is facing challenges. To some decent owner and. In 60 minutes total you. Can sleep. Carefully. Dont know the soon. To begin. Discovery. Subscribe to the documentary. Our plan is going to is to fight corruption when one of the people of lebanon going to get back i know we are very much we are very much aware and committed to that dr never letting me finish the song so as one of the other like it was like the presence and component of devices like that even before the coronavirus pandemic lebanons economy was plummeting through the floor decades of catastrophic mismanagement and rampant