UN Security Council halts meetings due to coronavirus

UN Security Council halts meetings due to coronavirus
The UN Security Council's Chinese presidency cancelled Monday the body's two final meetings scheduled this week due to the coronavirus crisis, diplomatic sources said.

1 min read
17 March, 2020
The security council postponed meetings (Getty)

The UN Security Council's Chinese presidency cancelled Monday the body's two final meetings scheduled this week due to the coronavirus crisis, diplomatic sources said.

After the earlier cancellation of the meeting planned for Tuesday, the Security Council was planning to discuss the situation of Darfur in Sudan on Wednesday, and address multilateralism on Thursday.

It was not possible Monday to confirm the cancellations with the Chinese mission to the United Nations, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council.

Diplomats from other countries however confirmed the decision.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told journalists that a positive Covid-19 case had been identified among staff at the UN secretariat, after a Philippines diplomat was reported infected last week.

Read more: Meet the Saudi woman scientist working on a coronavirus vaccine with US-based Moderna Therapeutics

The United Nations building remains open and Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in his office on Monday, according to Dujarric.

But the number of people entering the building in New York city has shrunk: only some 900 people, rather than the normal several thousand per day, he said.



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