A medical worker wearing a protective suit treats COVID-19 patients at an isolation ward in a hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo: Xinhua)

More than 10,000 health workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in 40 countries which have reported such cases, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.

According to the W.H.O., health workers accounted for more than 5 percent of cases in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and in four of those countries, health workers accounted for more than 10 percent of all infections.

W.H.O. Regional Director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said that a surge in COVID-19 cases in Africa was placing an increasing strain on health services across the continent and subsequently impacting those on the frontline of fighting the pandemic.

"This has very real consequences for the individuals who work in them, and there is no more sobering example of this than the rising number of health worker infections," Moeti said.

The W.H.O. attributes this phenomenon to various factors including inadequate access to personal protective equipment, exposure to patients who do not show signs of the disease and repurposing of health workers for COVID-19 response without adequate briefing.

Moeti called for health workers to be given the necessary equipment, skills and information to protect themselves noting that "one infection among health workers is one too many."

"Doctors, nurses and other health professionals are our mothers, brothers and sisters. They are helping to save lives endangered by COVID-19."

The W.H.O. said that measures were being taken to address the situation such as plans to train an additional 200,000+ health workers and providing guidance documents and guidelines on best care practices.

The W.H.O. has also tried to cover shortages of personal protective equipment adding that 41 million items of personal protective equipment were ready to be shipped from China to cover the needs of 47 African countries.

The W.H.O. also noted that there was progress in reducing the number of infections of health workers as evidenced in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

In Africa, there are more than 750,000 cases of COVID-19, with health workers accounting for 10 percent of that figure, and more than 15,000 deaths.