COVID-19 Cases and Deaths among Healthcare Personnel with the Progression of the Pandemic in Korea from March 2020 to February 2022

Abstract

Healthcare personnel (HCP) are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection due to their higher risk of contact with infected persons. The numbers of cases and deaths among HCP in Korea were divided into four periods associated with different major variants of SARS-CoV-2: GH clade, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron. To evaluate the implication of HCP infection in Korea, we overviewed the pandemic status in Korea and in other countries: the cases, deaths, excess mortality, and vaccination rates in Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In about two years, there were 10,670 HCP cases among all COVID-19 cases (1.15% of 925,975 cases). HCP cases had a lower death rate (%) compared to that for all cases (0.14 versus 0.75). Nurses were the most infected (55.3%), followed by HCP of other categories (28.8%) and doctors (15.9%), while deaths were mostly reported among doctors (9 out of 15, 60%). Cases among HCP gradually increased, but the death rate decreased as the pandemic progressed. Compared to five of the other countries examined, Korea had a higher incidence of cases but a lower mortality, lower excess mortality, and a higher vaccination rate.