Guwahati: More journalists continue to die from Covid-19 across the world where at least 1,754 media workers succumbed to the novel
corona virus in 80 countries during the last 18 months. The Geneva (Switzerland) global media safety and rights body Press Emblem
Campaign (PEC) apprehends that the number of victim-journalists from Covid-19 is likely to reach the 2,000 mark by the year end.
Contrary to the development, Bharat has significantly reduced the number of corona victims among journalists in July and August as the
populous country lost only four scribes during the period. Sad news broke from the eastern India, where Syndor Singh Syiem (67 years old
based in Shillong) Lairenjam Bijen Singh (45, Imphal), Rajiv Ghosh (59, Kolkata) and Manik Lal Das (58, Kumarghat) died of Covid-19
recently. “Journalists on the ground remain one of the most exposed professions. The number of registered victims has slowed down since June, but the
vaccination rate remains insufficient in many countries,” said Blaise Lempen, general secretary of PEC adding that the average age of
victims is now younger.
Some politicians, also a section of media, continue spreading false information at a high cost, as in the USA, where three star presenters
opposed to vaccination died in August from the virus, he asserted adding more deaths were reported from the Philippines to Algeria, from
Indonesia to Russia, from Brazil to the United States, from Cuba to Bangladesh. Brazil is the country with the highest number of victims with at
least 280 journalists dead from the virus, ahead of India with at least 270 victims. After an explosion of cases in these two countries
in the spring, the situation has fortunately stabilized this summer. Three Latin American countries Peru (164 dead), Mexico (120) and
Colombia (77) follow them passing over Bangladesh (65), Italy (59), United States of America (55), Venezuela (53), Ecuador (51), Argentina
(43), Indonesia (41), Russia (33), Iran (32), Great Britain (31), Dominican Republic (28), Pakistan, Turkey (27 each), Bolivia (20),
Nepal (19), Honduras, South Africa (18 each), Egypt (17), Panama, Spain (16 each), Ukraine (15) etc. Those are followed by Nigeria (11), Afghanistan, Guatemala, Zimbabwe
(10 each), France, Nicaragua (9 each), Algeria Paraguay (8 each), Cuba, Uruguay (6 each), Kenya, Philippines (5 each), Morocco (4),
Cameroon, Costa Rica, Iraq, Sweden (3 each), Canada, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Ghana, Kazakhstan (2 each), Myanmar, Germany,
Israel, Japan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland (1 each), etc. By region, Latin America leads with 920 media workers dead from
Covid-19, more than half of the total, ahead of Asia 485, Europe 206, Africa 86 and North America 57. The total number of victims is
certainly higher, because the cause of death of journalists is sometimes not specified or their death not announced. In a few
countries, there are no reliable statistics, added the PEC statement.
Globally journalists continue to die of Covid-19, Bharat improves its position
