Italy's doctors, nurses and healthcare workers have been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts in battling the covid-19 pandemic.

The candidature, approved by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, was put forward by the Italian branch of the Gorbachev Foundation, to recognise the fact that "Italian health workers were the first in the western world to have to face a very serious health emergency, in which they resorted to possible remedies of battlefield medicine, fighting in the trenches to save lives and often losing theirs."