Healthcare Workers` Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection during an Early Phase of the Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Infection and death of health care workers (HCWs) with COVID-19 is an important health problem and will lead to inadequate care of patients, causes more damage and more spread of this pandemic. This study aimed to combine data on COVID-19 infection among HCWs through a systematic review and meta-analysis study. Methods: We searched PubMed via MEDLINE, the SCOPUS, and Web of Science (ISI) to identify the studies on the prevalence of HCWs infection among COVID-19 patients. We used an eight-item checklist critically appraised to assess the quality of publications on the COVID-19 infection among HCWs. Random-effect models and meta-regression were used for the meta-analysis of the results. Results: Overall, 98 articles were retrieved from the databases, of which, seven met the eligibility criteria published between December 2019 to March 2020. The total sample size of the included studies contained 72677 COVID-19 confirmed cases, of which 3131 were HCWs. The pooled COVID-19 infection prevalence among HCWs was 4% (95% CI: 3% to 5%). Conclusions: According to the results, COVID-19 infection in HCWs was 4% of all cases in the early phase of the pandemic. So HCWs need special care including regular screening and appropriate, adequate, and standard personal protective equipment (PPE). Keywords: Novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health Care Workers, Medical Staff.