UN hunkering down to meet COVID-19 threat as 1st case reported

Located in the middle of New York that is facing the coronavirus threat, the world organisation of 193 nations is hunkering down to meet the coronavirus threat as a diplomat has tested positive for the disease.

The UN headquarters has been placed in Phase 2, "which is an active risk reduction mode", of the three-level response activation system, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said on Thursday.

The Philippines mission reported to the UN medical service that one of its diplomats has tested positive for the disease, Dujarric said.

The diplomat had last visited the UN for a meeting on Monday and had been in contact with two diplomats from another country, but not with UN staffers, he said.

The meeting room the diplomat had been in has undergone three cycles of cleaning and the medical service was reaching out to the two diplomats, the spokesman said.

He however, did not identify the infected Filipino diplomat.

Dujarric said that as of Thursday, none of the 3,000 or so UN staff members at the headquarters have tested positive for the disease.

The UN is taking several steps to meet the crisis and be prepared if the headquarters complex has to be shut down.

Guterres has ordered the cancellation of all but the charter-mandated meetings of the UN at the headquarters till the end of April and has also asked countries to drop their side events, Dujarric said.

India's UN Mission cancelled a Women's Day event last week at which the International Monetary Fund's Chief Economist Gita Gopinath was to have participated.

A centre for people from around the world, the UN headquarters faces an added risk from being located in New York City, which has 96 cases with 146 more clustered in a suburb.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency and on Thursday banned meetings of more than 500 people.

General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has asked missions to limit participation at meetings to two New York-based members, his spokesperson Reema Abza said.

That would help keep the numbers below 500 at the Assembly-related meetings with 193 member countries.

The Security Council held a test of a cybermeeting on Monday as a backup should the UN building be shut down.

China's Permanent Representative Zhang Jun, who is the Security Council President for this month, said that its 15 delegations have been asked to "scale down" participation by reducing the number of those attending the meeting.

About 40 per cent of the staff at the headquarters is expected to telecommute and provisions have been put in place for key staff to operate remotely in case of a shutdown.

Dujarric said that he was equipped to run the daily briefings from his living room.

Diplomats have generally been exempted from President Donald Trump's restrictions on travel from Europe to the US, but Guterres has suggested minimising travel.

The UN has banned visitors from entering the headquarters building and suspended tours of the facility.

The meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women that was scheduled for this week with the participation of several hundred people from around the country was suspended.

The Youth Plenary scheduled for March 31 to prepare for the 75th anniversary of the UN has also been suspended. IANS