HONDURAN President Juan Orlando Hernandez has come under fire for his disastrous handling of the global Covid-19 pandemic after 160 health workers tested positive for the virus.

The state-run Tegucigalpa University Teaching Hospital (HEU) reported earlier this week that 160 workers had been isolated after the test results, leaving the hospital short of staff when admissions due to Covid-19 are on the rise.

Honduras has more than 15,000 confirmed cases of which 1,600 have recovered. At least 426 people have died.

Health workers have been protesting as they demand PPE for staff and better equipment for those on the front line of the fight against coronavirus.

Honduran Medical Association president Suyapa Figueroa said: “The Honduran people are at the mercy of the clumsiness of the ‘ad hoc’ bodies that this government has set up; officials and businessmen who open and close the market as if they were lifting the bars of a yard.”

The union and the Honduran Institute of Social Security have denounced government corruption and slammed Mr Hernandez for policies that have created a serious health crisis in the country.

Mr Hernandez was hospitalised last week after testing positive for Covid-19.