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
‘Immediate nationwide ceasefire’ needed for all-out effort to counter COVID-19 in Syria
Syria is at “high risk” of being unable to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Monday, reiterating calls for a “complete, immediate nationwide ceasefire” to enable an all-out-effort to counter the march of the new coronavirus.
Coronavirus necessitates global increase in protective equipment, medical supplies: UN health chief
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for stepped-up production of medical equipment and supplies as health facilities and health workers in many countries struggle with increasing and urgent demands brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bulk of developing world faces hardship, as virus exacerbates economic frailty
Six billion people – that’s the bulk of the developing world – look set to suffer from the economic impact of the new coronavirus pandemic, the UN trade and development organization, UNCTAD, says.
Even before the disease hits the most vulnerable countries on the planet – those that rely on exporting their raw materials – the UN body says that there were clear signs late last year, that 2020 was going to be a very tough year.
Release inmates in Yemen to avert nationwide coronavirus outbreak, experts urge
An international panel of human rights experts called today for the immediate release of political prisoners and detainees in war-ravaged Yemen to help avert a nationwide outbreak of COVID-19.
$2.5 trillion COVID-19 rescue package needed for world’s emerging economies
The economic fallout from COVID-19 is likely to get “much worse” before it gets better for some six billion people living in developing economies, the UN said on Monday, in an appeal for a $2.5 trillion rescue package to boost their resilience to further hardship.
COVID-19 stoking xenophobia, hate and exclusion, minority rights expert warns
Combatting the COVID-19 pandemic must also include stamping out what one independent human rights expert has called the “darker sides” of the disease: verbal and physical attacks against Chinese and other minority communities, and excluding them from access to healthcare.