One doctor has died and two other have been seriously injured in Russia after falling from hospital windows, sparking concerns over the working conditions for health care workers during the country's coronavirus outbreak.
Russian authorities say they are investigating all three separate incidents, which left two workers dead and a third hospitalised.
The first incident was on 24 April when Natalya Lebedeva, who ran the emergency medical service at an astronaut training base, died after falling from a hospital window.
Russia's Federal Biomedical Agency said it had treated Dr Lebedeva for suspected coronavirus, calling her death a "tragic accident".
Eight days later on 1 May, a Siberian hospital's acting head doctor Elena Nepomnyashchaya died following a week in an intensive care unit following another fall.
Russian media reported Dr Nepomnyashchaya had fallen from the window during a contentious meeting with health officials in which she opposed their plans to turn her hospital into a coronavirus treatment facility.
The third incident came on Saturday, when ambulance doctor Alexander Shulepov fell from a second-storey hospital window, leaving him hospitalised in a serious condition with a fractured skull.
Local media reported Dr Shulepov had been receiving treatment for COVID-19 at the same hospital after being hospitalised on 22 April.
Dr Shulepov and his colleague Alexander Kosyakin posted a video to social media on the same day, accusing the hospital of forcing Dr Shulepov to continue working despite testing positive for the virus and criticising hospital administration for failing to provide adequate personal protective equipment to its staff.
Mr Kosyakin said his friend was well and truly on the mend from COVID-19 at the time of the incident.
"[He] is an intensive care unit, as far as I know in a serious condition, last time I spoke to him was on the 30th of April, we checked in with each other," Mr Kosyakin told CNN.
"He felt fine, he was getting ready to get discharged from the hospital ... and all of a sudden this happened, it's not clear why and what for, so many questions that I don't even have the answer to."
Russia has reported more than 145,000 cases of COVID-19, including at least 1356 deaths.
As other European nations began to ease their lockdown restrictions, Russia's outbreak appeared to intensify this week, reporting a surge in infections of more than 10,000 in just 24 hours on Sunday.
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