Coronavirus global health emergency: Coverage from UN News

Negotiations remain the only way to overcome the ongoing political deadlock in Venezuela, especially given the potentially far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday.

With  “unprecedented solidarity”, the World Health Assembly adopted a “landmark resolution” on Tuesday, which sets out a “clear roadmap” of the actions needed to sustain and accelerate the COVID-19 response at both national and international levels, the UN health agency chief told a press briefing on Wednesday, the day after the meeting concluded. 

Tens of millions of people in Africa could become destitute as a result of COVID-19 and its catastrophic impact on fragile economies and health systems across the continent, human rights chiefs from the United Nations and the African Commission warned on Wednesday. 

The coronavirus pandemic threatens the hard-earned gains Africans have made throughout the continent, the UN chief said on Wednesday, urging the world to stand in solidarity with the people, “now, and for recovering better”.

The UN’s top aid official has urged the Security Council to renew a mechanism that provides lifesaving assistance to millions of desperate people in northwest Syria, through cross-border deliveries from Turkey.

The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded the annual World Health Assembly on Tuesday, adopting a resolution that calls for an independent review of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the agency’s own performance.

The civil war in Libya is in danger of intensifying as foreign intervention grows and the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic adds to a deepening sense of insecurity, the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) told the Security Council on Tuesday.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, museums have not been spared, the UN cultural agency said on Monday, International Museum Day, revealing that nearly 90 per cent of the treasured cultural institutions have had to close their doors, while almost 13 per cent are under serious threat of never reopening.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on the world’s indigenous peoples that stretches well beyond the immediate threat to their health, the new UN independent expert on the rights of indigenous peoples said on Monday.