More than a thousand nurses are known to have died worldwide due to Covid-19, the International Council of Nurses said Wednesday, adding that the true figure was likely far higher, AFP reports.

The ICN branded the situation “catastrophic” and lambasted governments for not doing enough to protect front-line health care workers during the new coronavirus pandemic.

The Geneva-based federation brings together more than 130 national nursing associations (NNAs), representing the more than 20 million nurses worldwide.

An ICN survey found that in countries where separate data for nurses was available, more than 1,000 had died from the respiratory disease.

“As of August 14, the cumulative number of reported Covid-19 deaths in nurses in 44 countries is 1,097,” the ICN said in a report.

“As our dataset only covers 44 countries with recorded nurse deaths, ICN believes the number significantly underestimates the situation.” It said there had been 351 Covid-19 related deaths among nurses in Brazil as of August 11 — the highest figure in the dataset — and 212 in Mexico, according to the latest figures.