Peru: at least 20 journalists died from Covid-19 as they covered pandemic

Country is Latin America’s second worst-hit with more than 164,000 coronavirus cases and 4,500 deaths

Dan Collyns in Lima
@yachay_dc
Tue 2 Jun 2020 06.15 EDT

At least 20 journalists have died from Covid-19 in Peru as reporters, photographers and camera operators raced to cover the pandemic’s spread through the country, often without protective equipment.

The number throws into sharp relief the risks and precarious work conditions which face journalists covering the global pandemic in the Andean country, which, after Brazil is Latin America’s worst-hit with more than 170,000 Covid-19 cases and 4,600 deaths.

Peru is not the only country in the region to report the death of journalists from Covid-19. At least 12 journalists have reportedly died from the virus in Ecuador’s hard-hit city of Guayaquil, about eight in Brazil, and at least one in Nicaragua, among deaths in other countries.

Around the world, at least 117 journalists have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in 31 countries, according to one estimate by the Swiss NGO the Press Emblem Club.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/02/peru-coronavirus-pandemic-journalists-died