Risking lives: over 40 Italian health workers have died since beginning of Coronavirus outbreak

Since the Covid-19 Coronavirus began to spread in the country, more than 40 staff in the Italian health care system have lost their lives. Many of these deaths occurred due to infection early on in the outbreak when protective equipment was scarce. 

Forty-one medical workers have died in Italy and more than 5,000 have been infected with the virus. Doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital employees are working on the front line, fighting tirelessly to slow the spread of the Coronavirus in Italy. 

Many of those infected were working in the northern regions of Italy and came into contact with the virus early on in the outbreak when protective clothing was lacking. There have been criticisms over the government’s response to the virus at the beginning, and in the north of Italy many cases of Covid-19 may have slipped through the net due to lack of thorough testing. 

On Tuesday, 34-year-old nurse Daniela Trezzi killed herself in Monza, Lombardy. She tested positive for the Coronavirus on 10 March and had been in quarantine. It is thought that she was suffering extreme stress and that she took her own life because of fear of infecting others.