At least 115,000 health and care workers have died from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, the World Health Organzation chief said Monday.

A medical worker wearing protective gear collects a swab sample from a man to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Colombo on May 24, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

"For almost 18 months, health and care workers all over the world have stood in the breach between life and death," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the organisation's main annual assembly.

"Many have themselves become infected, and while reporting is scant, we estimate that at least 115,000 health and care workers have paid the ultimate price in the service of others."