At least 3,000 nurses have been killed by Covid-19, the global nurses’ federation said as it warned of a looming exodus of health workers traumatized by the pandemic.

Exactly one year on since the World Health Organization (WHO) first described Covid-19 as a pandemic; the International Council of Nurses said burn-out and stress had led millions of nurses to consider quitting the profession.

And once the pandemic is over, a dwindling number of experienced nurses could be left to handle the giant backlog of regular hospital care that had been postponed due to the crisis.

ICN chief executive Howard Catton said nurses had gone through “mass traumatisation” during the pandemic, being pushed to physical and mental exhaustion.

He said the global workforce of 27 million nurses was six million short going into the pandemic — and four million were heading for retirement by 2030.