British celebrity gardener Monty Don, a UN advocate for plant health, is raising awareness of the links between human health, plant health and the well-being of the planet.

International partners working to achieve equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines appealed on Wednesday for the UN Security Council to ensure people caught in conflict have access to these lifesaving treatments.  

In its latest update on the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that although the number of global infections have fallen by 16 per cent in a week – 500,000 fewer cases – regions, including Europe, are still in the grip of the virus whose variants are spreading.

The number of reported cases of COVID-19 globally has declined for the fifth consecutive week, the head of the UN health agency said on Monday, underscoring that “simple public health measures work, even in the presence of variants”.