Libya

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed today that a 71-year-old Rohingya man is the first refugee in the Cox’s Bazar camp to die from COVID-19 and some 30 other people have tested positive so far, yet the numbers are likely higher as testing is ramping up.

The Secretary-General welcomed the agreement between representatives of the Government of Venezuela and the Advisory Team of the National Assembly on responding to COVID-19.  He encouraged parties to respect humanitarian principles in implementing the accord and to continue seeking common ground to overcome the protracted crisis.

Some 50 people died in three attacks in Burkina Faso’s northern regions — the Sahel, North, Centre-North and East — marking the deadliest violence since March, when 43 civilians were killed during two attacks on northern villages.  Rising insecurity is making it difficult to reach the 2.2 million people in need of aid throughout the country.

An Ebola outbreak has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s western Equateur province.  The health ministry has identified six cases, including four people who have died.  The World Health Organization has staff in Mbandaka, the main city impacted by the outbreak, to support the response.

The twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will now take place from 1-12 November 2021, in Glasgow.  United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said that if done right, recovery from the COVID-19 crisis can foster a more inclusive climate path.

More than one in six young people have stopped working since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said today.  The latest ILO analysis of coronavirus’s impact on the labour market notes that those youth who remain employed have seen their working hours cut by 23 per cent.

The United Nations and the Government of Bangladesh are making preparations as Super Cyclone Storm Amphan approaches landfall tomorrow, potentially impacting more than 14 million people in the country.  The Humanitarian Coordination Task Team and the Government are working on preparedness and response activities.

Continued fighting in Libya threatens to worsen an already volatile situation, despite calls to end violence amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary‑General cautioned during a 19 May videoconference meeting of the Security Council.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) warned today that devastating gaps in social protection coverage in developing countries could compromise COVID-19 recovery plans and expose millions to poverty, as 55 per cent of the world’s population is not covered by social insurance or assistance.

The 2020 World Health Statistics, published today by the World Health Organization (WHO), show that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods and threatening recent development gains, underlining the urgent need for all nations to invest in strong health systems.