10, April 2020
UN chief calls for solidarity among discordant Security Council over coronavirus crisis 0
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council on Thursday to display unity as it met to discuss what he called the “fight of a generation” — the global coronavirus pandemic.
“A signal of unity and resolve from the Council would count for a lot at this anxious time,” Guterres told the divided body holding its first meeting about the crisis.
The meeting of the 15-member Security Council is being held behind closed doors by videoconference but the UN released a copy of the secretary general’s remarks.
“The engagement of the Security Council will be critical to mitigate the peace and security implications of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Guterres said.
“To prevail against the pandemic today, we will need to work together,” he said. “That means heightened solidarity.
“This is the fight of a generation — and the raison d’être of the United Nations itself,” he said.
Security Council members gathered after weeks of disagreement — especially between the United States and China, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December.
Led by Germany, the meeting was requested last week by nine of the council’s 10 non-permanent members who were fed up with the body’s inaction over the unprecedented global crisis.
Though the council meeting was closed-door, several ambassadors taking part released extracts of their remarks on Twitter or to reporters.
While Germany described the pandemic as an “international peace and security issue,” several other countries, notably Russia, China and South Africa, said health matters were not part of the Security Council’s brief.
France, meanwhile, confirmed that it would provide 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to fight the virus in Africa.
Non-permanent member Estonia, for its part, said holding the Security Council meeting was “better late than never,” a jab at those seen as delaying the talks.
‘Missing in action’
Ahead of the meeting, the United States and China had been arguing over the origins of the virus, which President Donald Trump has referred to as the “Chinese virus.”
There were two competing draft resolutions up for debate.
One, spearheaded by Tunisia on behalf of the 10 non-permanent members and obtained by AFP, calls for “an urgent, coordinated and united international action to curb the impact of COVID-19.”
It calls for the Security Council to “monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international peace and security and asks the Secretary General to brief the Council on such developments when appropriate.”
It also seeks an “immediate global ceasefire to allow for adequate humanitarian response” to the pandemic.
That draft resolution has been in development since March 30 and has only been discussed by the 10 non-permanent members.
The second text, proposed by France, focuses on Guterres’s call last month to cease all hostilities around the world as part of a “humanitarian pause” to fight the pandemic.
That one has only had input from the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — which diplomats from non-permanent countries told AFP has been “very frustrating.”
France has argued that the so-called P5 need to smooth out their differences before any wider negotiations with the council.
But efforts to convene a meeting of the five have been stymied by the hospitalization of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has the COVID-19 illness, and Chinese reticence to participate without first setting a clear agenda.
While Gutteres has been outspoken about the crisis and the 193 members of the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling for “cooperation,” an ambassador to the UN described the Security Council as “missing in action.”
In the Security Council, at least nine votes out of 15 are necessary to adopt a resolution, without a veto by one of the five permanent members.
Source: AFP
10, April 2020
UK: Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves ICU, receiving ‘close monitoring’ 0
Prime Minister Boris Johnson left intensive care on Thursday evening as he continues to recover from COVID-19, but he remains under close monitoring in hospital, his office said on Thursday.
Johnson, 55, was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday evening with a persistent high temperature and cough, and was rushed to intensive care on Monday where he spent three nights receiving treatment.
“The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery,” a spokesman from his office said in an emailed statement.
“He is in extremely good spirits.”
Johnson was the first world leader to be hospitalized with the coronavirus, forcing him to hand control of the world’s fifth-largest economy to foreign minister Dominic Raab just as Britain’s outbreak approaches its most deadly peak.
Raab tweeted that the improvement in Johnson’s condition was “the news we all wanted to hear”. US President Donald Trump described it as “great news”.
Johnson’s ongoing recovery prompted a small rise in the value of sterling against the dollar GBP=.
However, the government statement did not give any details on when Johnson may be able to resume leadership, and Raab – speaking before the latest announcement – had stressed the importance of allowing the prime minister to focus on recovery.
No further updates on Johnson’s health were expected on Thursday.
Raab is deputizing for Johnson during the most stringent shutdown in Britain’s peacetime history. Earlier he told a news conference it was too early to end the lockdown because Britain had not reached the peak of the outbreak yet.
The UK death toll in hospitals from coronavirus now stands at 7,978, a rise of 881 on the day but a smaller increase than the 938 seen in Wednesday’s data.
Government spending
With Johnson absent and the death toll still mounting, the British government is wrestling with two major issues – how to finance a vast increase in state spending to support the shuttered economy, and when to start easing lockdown measures.
With the economy facing potentially the worst hit since World War Two, the government said it had expanded its overdraft facility with the Bank of England.
The central bank has agreed temporarily to finance government borrowing in response to COVID-19 if funds cannot immediately be raised from debt markets, reviving a measure last widely used during the 2008 financial crisis.
The BoE said it was a short-term measure and both it and government said any borrowing from the Ways and Means facility – effectively the government’s overdraft with the Bank – would be repaid by the end of the year.
The government has made pledges costing tens of billions of pounds to support businesses and workers hit by the virus. On Thursday, the government said an additional 1.2 million claims for welfare payments had been filed since March 16.
Raab said the peak of the virus outbreak had yet to be reached and that the government would not be able to say more about the duration of the lockdown until late next week, once experts have had chance to analyze data on how well it is working. It was introduced last month.
“The measures will have to stay in place until we’ve got the evidence that clearly shows we’ve moved beyond the peak,” he said.
While Johnson’s condition was improving, the likely length of his recovery remained unknown, with some political commentators saying there was a power vacuum in his absence.
Raab said on Thursday he had the power to make “necessary decisions” in the prime minister’s absence and that government will continue to follow the strategy set out by Johnson. He said cabinet could take decisions collectively.
The United Kingdom is entering what scientists say is the deadliest phase of the outbreak, with deaths expected to continue to rise over the Easter weekend.
But in a sign the shutdown measures were working, health officials have said the number of coronavirus infections and hospital admissions had begun to show signs of flattening.
Police said they would be taking tougher action to do just that before the four-day Easter holiday weekend because many people were continuing to ignore the ban on social gatherings.
(Source: Reuters)