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At least 90 000 health-care workers worldwide are believed to have been infected with Covid-19, and possibly twice that, amid reports of continuing shortages of protective equipment, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) said on Wednesday.

The disease has killed more than 260 nurses, it said in a statement, urging authorities to keep more accurate records to help prevent the virus from spreading among staff and patients.

The Geneva-based association said a month ago that 100 nurses had died in the pandemic sparked by a novel coronavirus that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

“The figure for health care workers infections has risen from 23 000 to we think more than 90 000, but that is still an under-estimation because it is not (covering) every country in the world,” Howard Catton, ICN’s chief executive officer, told Reuters Television in its lakeside offices. The 90 000 estimate is based on information collected on 30 countries from national nursing associations, government figures and media reports. — Reuters.