COVID-19 and the impact on the education of healthcare professionals across countries with a particular focus on developing countries

COVID-19 has had an appreciable impact on morbidity, mortality and costs across countries, which is continuing. Before the advent of vaccines, the only effective measures to limit the spread of the virus and its impact were initiatives to limit contact between people through lockdown and other measures. Public health measures included the closure of borders and hospital clinics, introduction of social distancing and improved prevention including the wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and regular hand washing, routine testing and subsequent tracing and quarantining of infected personnel as well as the closure of schools and universities. However, there was considerable variation in the rate of their implementation across countries, which appreciably impacted on prevalence and mortality rates.