#COVID-19

Violence in the Central African Republic is disrupting critical supply routes, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Bangui.  Following recent attacks on aid convoys and peacekeepers, more than 1,600 trucks carrying food and medicine are blocked at the border with Cameroon, as food prices spike.

From Madagascar, the United Nations is issuing a flash appeal for $76 million to support more than 1 million people in the south who face a potentially life-threatening lack of food, nutrition, water and sanitation, and health assistance due to the region’s worst drought in 10 years coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the United Kingdom Cabinet Office event themed “How can we ensure that no country is left behind in the fight against COVID-19”, held today:

The United Nations Resident Coordinator’s team in Brazil is supporting the state of Amazonas in tackling latest surge of COVID-19.  The United Nations Children’s Fund delivered 250 hygiene kits and food baskets, while the International Organization for Migration is working to mitigate transmission in indigenous and riverside communities.

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message marking the two millionth global death from COVID-19, today:

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees  (UNHCR), Jordan launched one of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccination drives for refugees on 14 January.  An Iraqi woman in the city of Irbid was the first registered refugee to be vaccinated as part of Jordan’s national campaign.

In a year rocked by the novel coronavirus that infected 84 million people, devastated economies and laid bare humanity’s starkest inequalities, the Security Council — working through peacekeepers, aid workers and logistics experts on the ground — pressed forward with its mandate to protect civilians and build peace in the world’s most complex conflict zones.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the virtual commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York today:

More than 100 people were killed and over 25 others injured following the 2 January attacks in Niger’s Tillaberi Region, according to local authorities.  A United Nations inter-agency assessment mission arrived in the town of Ouallam yesterday, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed.

United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock has allocated $1.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to the Food and Agriculture Organization for desert locust control operations in Kenya.  Swarms could threaten livelihoods and food security of 3.6 million people across the region if they are not controlled.