The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday of an alarming trend in the number of coronavirus-infected health workers, stating that some countries have reported up to 10% of medics being infected.

At least 100 Italian doctors have died of the novel coronavirus since the pandemic reached the Mediterranean country in February, Italy's FNOMCeO health association said Thursday.

"The number of doctors who have died because of COVID-19 is 100, perhaps even 101 at the moment, unfortunately," an FNOMCeO spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP). The toll includes retired doctors the government began calling in a month ago to help fight a coronavirus. Italian media reports estimate that 30 nurses and nursing assistants have also died of COVID-19.