On the front line facing the Covid-19 virus and in order to fulfill their mission to inform, journalists and media workers must absolutely respect the advice of the IFJ in matters of security during this crisis.
Unfortunately, the profession counts day after day contaminated journalists, and also deplores deaths linked to the coronavirus.
The IFJ offers its sincere condolences to the families of the first victims and wishes the best to the hospitalized colleagues.
Here is a list which is obviously not exhaustive.
Europe. The first of them was probably Jean-Michel Denis, Jean-Michel Denis, French journalist at Paris-Match, who died on March 16 at the age of 70 from the consequences of the coronavirus, not to mention our Italian colleague, Raffaele Masto, journalist at Radio Popolare, who died in Bergamo on March 28 at the age of 66.
Two French journalists also died this week as a result of Covid-19: Henri Tincq, a former journalist with Le Monde, and Pape Diouf, who worked for Le Monde Diplomatique and La Marseillaise.
Africa. Our affiliate in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), informed us that Zororo Makamba, a well-known journalist in Zimbabwe, died on March 23 at the age of 30, only three days after being diagnosed.
The Union of Independent Journalists of Togo (UJIT) announced the death of Dominique Alizou, director of the publication called "Chroniques de la semaine", on March 27 at the age of 49.
Latin America. Finally, Fepalc, the regional group of the IFJ in Latin America and the Caribbean, has deplored in recent days four journalists' deaths since the start of the crisis: two in Ecuador, two in the Dominican Republic.