This page brings together information and guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations regarding the current outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that was first reported in Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019. Please visit this page for daily updates. WHO is working closely with global experts, governments and partners to rapidly expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to provide advice to countries and individuals on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak.
Coronavirus global health emergency: Coverage from UN News
COVID-19: ‘Sombre moment’ as cases top 100,000 worldwide
The global number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has surpassed 100,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Saturday.
Coronavirus update: WHO chief calls for private sector to step up, and, should you take that flight?
In his daily briefing to the press on Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that supplies of medicine are at risk of disruption due to the epidemic, given that China - the worst hit nation so far - is a major producer of pharmaceutical ingredients.
COVID-19: countries, businesses must safeguard human rights as virus spreads: Bachelet
As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread globally, the UN’s top human rights official appealed on Friday to put rights “front and centre” when implementing preventative measures.
Coronavirus knows no borders: UN in China shares lessons learned so far
The streets of China’s capital having gone eerily quiet, following the COVID-19 outbreak, Beijing is now slowly returning to its usual vibrant self.
Cases are falling, and people are cautiously returning to work, following new advice laid out by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The UN offices in Beijing will reopen on Monday, and in an interview with UN News, Resident Coordinator in China, Nicholas Rosellini, said good communication was vital to avoid panic, and unwarranted stigmatization around the world.
Coronavirus update: 290 million students now stuck at home
School closures in 13 countries linked to the COVID-19 virus epidemic have disrupted the education of more than 290 million students, a record number, the UN education agency UNESCO said on Thursday.
Coronavirus COVID-19: don’t panic, says top UN economist
As deaths continue to rise from the coronavirus outbreak, its economic consequences are becoming clearer, too.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Pamela Coke-Hamilton from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, highlights how the challenge posed by the disease to China’s key role in global manufacturing, will likely affect rich and poor countries alike.
Reassuringly, she also explains that for now at least, there’s no reason to panic.
Coronavirus COVID-19 wipes $50 billion off global exports in February alone, as IMF pledges support for vulnerable nations
The extent of the damage to the global economy caused by novel coronavirus COVID-19 moved further into focus on Wednesday as UN economists announced a likely $50 billion drop in worldwide manufacturing exports in February alone.
‘We can’t stop COVID-19 without protecting health workers’: WHO chief
A shortage of protective equipment is endangering health workers worldwide, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday, citing “severe and mounting disruption to the global supply” caused by “rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse”.
DR Congo: With Ebola on the wane, UN agencies prepare to combat coronavirus
After more than a year of battling an Ebola virus outbreak that killed more than 2,200 people, UN officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the epidemic in the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will soon be history as the country gears up to face the emerging threat of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
COVID-19: ‘Top priority’ must be on containment, insists WHO’s Tedros
Containing the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic should still be everyone’s “top priority”, UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.