COVID-19: No return to ‘old normal’, says UN health chief, as cases top 15 million

© FAO/Max Valencia

The Lo Valledor main wholesale market in Chile continues to provide the public during the COVID-19 pandemic with all the protective measures for them and the community.

    

23 July 2020

Health

COVID-19 cases worldwide have surpassed 15 million, and nearly 620,000 deaths. On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged people everywhere to play a part in preventing further spread of the disease, warning that there will be no return to “the old normal”.

Most cases, or 10 million, were in just 10 countries, with the United States, Brazil and India accounting for nearly half. On Thursday afternoon, the US passed the milestone of four million infections.

Life-and-death decisions

“We’re asking everyone to treat the decisions about where they go, what they do, and who they meet with, as life-and-death decisions – because they are”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking from Geneva.

“It may not be your life, but your choices could be the difference between life and death for someone you love, or for a complete stranger.”

Adjust to the ‘new normal’

COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of billions across the globe, and Tedros said it is understandable that people want to get on with their lives.

“But we will not be going back to the ‘old normal’. The pandemic has already changed the way we live our lives. Part of adjusting to the ‘new normal’ is finding ways to live our lives safely”, he advised.

In recent weeks, outbreaks associated with nightclubs and other places where people gather have been reported, even in locations where virus transmission has been suppressed.

“We must remember that most people are still susceptible to this virus. As long as it’s circulating, everyone is at risk”, said Tedros, adding, “just because cases might be at a low level where you live, that doesn’t make it safe to let down your guard.”

Tedros underlined that anyone, regardless of age or where they live, can help lead efforts to beat the pandemic and build back better.

“In recent years we’ve seen young people leading grassroots movements for climate change and racial equality. Now we need young people to start a global movement for health – for a world in which health is a human right, not a privilege”, he suggested.

10,000-plus African health workers infected

Separately, the UN health agency underscored the threat COVID-19 is posing to health workers in Africa, more than 10,000 of whom have been infected so far.

There have been more than 750,000 cases of the disease on the continent, with more than 15,000 deaths.

“The growth we are seeing in COVID-19 cases in Africa is placing an ever-greater strain on health services across the continent”, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

“This has very real consequences for the individuals who work in them, and there is no more sobering example of this, than the rising number of health worker infections.”

WHO

A health worker in Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo puts on clothing to protect against the coronavirus.

Globally, around 10 per cent of COVID-19 cases are among health professionals, though rates differ between individual countries.

Information on health worker infections in Africa is still limited, WHO said, though preliminary data reveals they comprise more than five per cent of cases in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Factors that increase risk among these frontline personnel include inadequate access to personal protective equipment, and weak infection prevention and control measures.

“One infection among health workers is one too many”, said Dr. Moeti. “Doctors, nurses and other health professionals are our mothers, brothers and sisters. They are helping to save lives endangered by COVID-19. We must make sure that they have the equipment, skills and information they need to keep themselves, their patients and colleagues safe.”

New COVID-19 Law Lab

WHO has announced the establishment of a COVID-19 Law Lab together with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Georgetown University in the US.

It contains a database of national laws implemented by countries in response to the pandemic, such as state of emergency declarations and measures relating to mask-wearing, physical distancing and access to medications.

Courtesy:UN News

Yemen: millions of children facing deadly hunger, amidst aid shortages and COVID-19 Jabra is seven years old, she lives in Sana, Yemen. She is learning the correct way to wash her hands and how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

© UNICEF

Jabra is seven years old, she lives in Sana, Yemen. She is learning the correct way to wash her hands and how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

    

25 June 2020

Humanitarian Aid

Millions of children in the heart of the world’s worst humanitarian disaster could be pushed to the brink of starvation, due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the coronavirus pandemic, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. 

Marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country between Government forces and their allies, against Houthi rebel militias, the new UNICEF report warns the number of malnourished children could reach 2.4 million by end of year, almost half of all under-fives. 

An additional 30,000 children could develop life-threatening severe acute malnutrition over the next six months.

Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19 warns that as Yemen’s devastated health system and infrastructure overall struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, the already dire situation for children is likely to deteriorate considerably. 

Systemic failure

UNICEF reported that an additional 6,600 children under five could die from preventable causes by the end of the year. With a health system teetering closer to collapse, only half of health facilities are operational, with huge shortages in medicine, equipment and staff. 

More than eight million people, nearly half of them children, depend directly on the agency for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), amid ongoing conflict, cholera outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We cannot overstate the scale of this emergency as children, in what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, battle for survival as COVID-19 takes hold”, said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, UNICEF Representative to Yemen.

“As the world’s attention focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic I fear the children of Yemen will be all but forgotten. Despite our own preoccupations right now, we all have a responsibility to act and help the children of Yemen. They have the same rights of any child, anywhere”, Ms. Nyanti added. 

In the report, the agency alerts for almost 10 million children without proper access to water and sanitation, as well as for 7.8 million children without access to education, following school closures. 

Widespread absence from class and a worsening economy could put children at greater risk of child labour, recruitment into armed groups and child marriage, the report highlights. 

© UNICEF

Volunteers teach people living in settlements, in Sana'a, Yemen, instructing them on social distancing and other preventative measure against COVID-19.

‘Brink of starvation’

 “If we do not receive urgent funding, children will be pushed to the brink of starvation and many will die. The international community will be sending a message that the lives of children in a nation devastated by conflict, disease and economic collapse, simply do not matter”, Ms. Nyanti pointed. 

Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19 warns that unless US$54.5 million is received for health and nutrition services by the end of August, more than 23,000 children with severe acute malnutrition will be at increased risk of dying; there will be shortages on the children’s immunization, and 19 million people will lose access to healthcare, including one million pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their children. 

The report also highlights that crucial water and sanitation services for three million children and their communities will begin to shut down from the end of July, unless US$45 million is secured. 

“UNICEF is working around the clock in incredibly difficult situations to get aid to children in desperate need, but we only have a fraction of the funding required to do this”, conlcluded Ms. Nyanti. 

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Readers can find information and guidance on the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from the UN, World Health Organization and UN agencies here.For daily news updates from UN News, click here.

Support Yemen or watch the country ‘fall off the cliff’ 

On Wednesday, the UN humanitarian chief warned that Yemen will “fall off the cliff” without massive financial support. 

Speaking to a closed virtual Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Mark Lowcock said that coronavirus was spreading rapidly across Yemen, and about 25 percent of the country’s confirmed cases, have died. 

“At a minimum, we can expect many more people to starve to death and to succumb to COVID-19 and to die of cholera and to watch their children die because they are not immunized for killer diseases”, he said. 

The UN relief chief warned that the coronavirus pandemic is “adding one more layer of misery upon many others”. Caling for funding, he told members that the choice was between “supporting the humanitarian response in Yemen and help to create the space for a sustainable political situation, or watch Yemen fall off the cliff.” 

Courte

COVID-19: Recovery will be slower following ‘crisis like no other’, IMF predicts

WFP/Glory Ndaka

Women queuing for food rations in Cameroon practice social distancing to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

    

24 June 2020

Economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to be more gradual than previously forecast, according to a report published on Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It estimates growth this year at -4.9 per cent, or nearly two percentage points below projections in April, indicating that the recession will be deeper and recovery slower.

The latest World Economic Outlook is an update to data published two months ago. Subtitled A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery, it warns that gains made over the past two decades in driving down extreme poverty could be in peril.

A call for strong health systems

The IMF explained that the report reflects “a higher-than-usual degree of uncertainty” around the projections, which are based on key assumptions about the pandemic’s impacts.

In countries with declining COVID-19 rates, slow recovery is based on factors such as the continuation of physical distancing measures, reduced productivity due to lockdowns, and a hit to surviving businesses ramping up, to meet necessary workplace safety and hygiene practices.

The IMF further predicts that lengthier lockdowns will exert an additional toll on economic activity in countries struggling to control infections.

“All countries—including those that have seemingly passed peaks in infections—should ensure that their health care systems are adequately resourced,” the agency said.

“The international community must vastly step up its support of national initiatives, including through financial assistance to countries with limited health

care capacity and channeling of funding for vaccine production as trials advance, so that adequate, affordable doses are quickly available to all countries.”

Fiscal measures and global cooperation

The report recommends that in areas still under lockdown, authorities should continue to “cushion” household income losses, while also supporting firms forced to curtail their activities due to mandated restrictions.

“Where economies are reopening, targeted support should be gradually unwound as the recovery gets underway, and policies should provide stimulus to lift demand and ease and incentivize the reallocation of resources away from sectors likely to emerge persistently smaller after the pandemic,” the authors said.

They underlined the importance of strong global cooperation throughout the pandemic, noting that countries confronting the crisis while also facing a drop in external funding, or other financing, urgently need “liquidity assistance”.

Act now to avert future catastrophe

Looking beyond the crisis, the report urges policymakers to resolve trade and technology “tensions” that will put recovery at risk.

Additionally, they should implement climate-related commitments and scale up carbon taxation.

“The global community must act now to avoid a repeat of this catastrophe by building global stockpiles of essential supplies and protective equipment, funding research and supporting public health systems, and putting in place effective modalities for delivering relief to the neediest”, the authors stated.

Source:UN News

COVID-19 threatens democracy in Southeast Asia

25 May 2020

00Author: Murray Hiebert, Bower Group Asia

COVID-19 has been tough on the health and economies of Southeast Asia, but the region’s fledgling quasi-democracies are also under threat. Efforts to control the virus are giving authoritarian rulers the perfect cover to adopt draconian levers to rein in their opponents and critics.

‘The authoritarian leaders of Cambodia and the Philippines certainly rode the COVID-19 wave to their advantage in accruing political power and controls, while Thailand and Myanmar are poised to lean in further if they determine the political situation requires it’, says Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director in Asia.

In Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha — a general who seized power in a 2014 coup and then became prime minister through carefully orchestrated elections in 2019 — took advantage of an existing emergency decree to impose sweeping control measures in March. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the control measures grant him the authority to ‘censor or shut down media if deemed necessary’.

For example, a 42-year-old Thai artist was arrested after posting online that he had arrived from Spain and exited Bangkok’s main international airport without any screening. He was charged under the Computer Crimes Act and could be punished for up to five years in prison because his post ‘created panic for the public and eroded their confidence in Suvarnabhumi airport’ — in the words of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, best known for his brutal war on drugs, signed a law in late March granting himself ‘special temporary power’ for three months. On 1 April, he ordered the police and the military to shoot violators of his ‘enhanced community quarantine’ if they were unruly or threatened law enforcement officers. Three days later, a man in his early 60s, apparently drunk, was shot dead after allegedly threatening police at a checkpoint with a scythe.

In April, the Philippine police arrested seven activists distributing food assistance north of Manila and charged them with violating emergency laws. They were indicted with inciting sedition after anti-government newspapers were found in their vehicle. In early May, ABS-CBN — the country’s largest television broadcaster — was forced off the air in a move many observers interpreted as Duterte’s attempt to further muzzle the media at a time when unbiased reporting on COVID-19 outbreak was needed.

In Myanmar, the military appears to be taking advantage of COVID-19 by leveraging the power it retained during reforms that gave rise to a quasi-civilian government. In late March, the military set up a powerful 10-member COVID-19 taskforce to investigate cases of the virus and suppress ‘disinformation’ by punishing those who create ‘panic among the people’. This taskforce, made up of senior military officers and cabinet ministers appointed by the military, was created two weeks after the government had established a COVID-19 committee led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military taskforce runs parallel to the civilian government and ensures that the military retains a high profile as the country prepares for elections before the end of the year. The military also arranged facilities in key cities to quarantine people infected by COVID-19 and sent military helicopters to deliver medical supplies to remote regions of the country.

In Cambodia, where Prime Minister Hun Sen cracked down on opposition political parties and shrunk the country’s political space ahead of 2018 elections, the National Assembly passed a state of emergency law granting Hun Sen greater power in handling the pandemic. Between January and April, Human Rights Watch documented the arrest of at least 30 people on charges of spreading ‘fake news’, including commentaries on the government’s handling of the pandemic.

No opinion polls in Southeast Asia have measured public perceptions about the more authoritarian measures governments introduced to tackle the pandemic. A Gallup poll of Thai attitudes toward the government’s overall handling of the virus in late April found 81 per cent disapproval — the highest among 18 countries. In contrast, 80 per cent of people in the Philippines approved of their government’s handling of the virus, in line with Duterte’s approval ratings during his war on drugs.

Interestingly, the poor rating of the Thai government seems to be due to perceptions of officials not going far enough rather than being too draconian. Veteran politicians criticised Prayut’s administration for not using ‘hard measures’ earlier to control the virus.

There is no evidence that the use of tough policies in Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand or Myanmar are producing a more effective pandemic response. ‘Any public health practitioner would immediately tell you that responding to a public health crisis requires eliciting the willing cooperation and support of the people’, says Robertson. Using power to arrest, quarantine and curfew violators is an exercise that ‘resembles emptying the ocean with a bucket’. Advances toward democracy in Southeast Asia that came at immense cost are at risk of being steadily eroded away.

Murray Hiebert is Head of Research at Bower Group Asia and Senior Associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC. He is author of Under Beijing’s Shadow: Southeast Asia’s China Challenge (Forthcoming: August 2020).

Courtesy:East Asia Forum

UN helps Pacific prepare for COVID-19 pandemic, warns that children are ‘hidden victims’

World Bank/Tom Perry

A young boy holds a chicken in Taremb, Malekula Island, Vanuatu.

    

30 March 2020

Health

United Nations agencies are working together to provide vital support to Pacific Island countries as they rally to combat COVID-19 outbreaks across the region. 

UNICEF Pacific@UNICEFPacific

Since the outbreak of #COVID19, UNICEF has been supporting Pacific Island governments to help communities prepare and respond to the threat faced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more: https://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/press-releases/unicef-supports-pacific-island-countries-protect-communities-against-covid-19 …

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The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been busy providing vital supplies to Pacific Island governments, including more than 170,000 essential medical and laboratory items. 

“UNICEF will continue working with governments and our partners throughout the Pacific to stop transmission of the virus, and to keep children and their families safe”, said UNICEF Pacific Representative, Sheldon Yett.

Assistance has been delivered according to their current needs, along with communication materials to inform the public about the symptoms of COVID-19, how to treat someone feeling unwell and preventative actions to stem the spread of the virus.

Led by WHO and partners, UNICEF is supporting the COVID-19 Joint Incident Management Team response in the Pacific, along with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Japan and Global Partnership for Education.

‘Hidden victims’

Pointing out that in just a few months, COVID-19 has “upended the lives of children around the Pacific” along with most other regions of the world, Mr. Yett stressed that they are the “hidden victims of this pandemic”.

The UNICEF envoy painted a grim picture of closed borders, parents and caregivers losing their jobs and “thousands of children” out of school.

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Readers can find information and guidance on the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from the UN, World Health Organization and UN agencies here.For daily news updates from UN News, click here.

To mitigate the consequences, the gency is supporting all countries in the region by adapting the UN?? Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools for Pacific Island countries, to keep schools safe and help children continue their learning when schools are closed.

On the ground support

UNICEF is also providing medical items across the Pacific, including N95 respirators, surgical masks, swabs, thermometers, testing kits, gloves and medical gowns. 

In addition to providing medical and laboratory supplies to support governments in responding to virus outbreaks, UNICEF continues to reach out to communities to share crucial information on keeping children safe and on preventing the spread of COVID-19, such as washing hands, coughing into elbows and not touching faces, especially eyes, mouth and nose.

UNICEF action at the country level

• Fiji: Provided tents to be used as fever clinics to treat patients.
• Micronesia: Implemented community hand washing campaign and is working with partners to build 100 handwashing stations as part of a hygiene promotion campaign.
• Solomon Islands: Distributed Water, Sanitation and Health dignity kits and developing training for Social Welfare officers on managing stress and self-care during the pandemic.
• Vanuatu: Provided tents to treat patients and traiing, for community awareness outreach.
• Kiribati: Developed SMS platform for COVID-19 text messaging, installed handwashing facilities at two hospitals and launched a community campaign on proper hand washing.
• Courtesy:UN Mews