The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the most severe recession in nearly a century and is causing enormous damage to people’s health, jobs and well-being, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

As restrictions begin to ease, the path to economic recovery remains highly uncertain and vulnerable to a second wave of infections. Strengthening healthcare systems and supporting people and businesses to help adapt to a post-COVID-19 world will be crucial, it says.

“La igualdad es una declaración política. Tenemos que huir de la cultura del privilegio, que naturaliza las desigualdades y hace creer que las personas no son iguales. Necesitamos un nuevo pacto social, un nuevo Estado de bienestar que consagre la protección social universal, con acceso a sistemas de salud de calidad, y reconstruir con igualdad y sostenibilidad”, declaró Alicia Bárcena.

Additionally, people over 60, or who have underlying health conditions, should wear medical masks in these settings, while all workers in clinical areas of health facilities should also use them – not just those who deal with COVID-19 patients.

However, WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned against putting too much faith in masks, stressing that they are only part of a comprehensive strategy to defeat the disease. 

The virus of false information and fake news which has proliferated globally as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, has not spared the crisis-wracked South American country, Venezuela. But the United Nations there is countering the misinformation by making sure that Venezuelans receive trustworthy and reliable information about the deadly virus.

“It’s not over until there’s no virus anywhere in the world”, said WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris. “So, all the things we have been saying (still) apply. The best precaution is being able to stay one metre away from each other, being able to wash your hands, being able to ensure that you don’t touch your mouth, nose and eyes…We have certainly seen a lot of passion this week, we’ve seen people who’ve felt the need to be out and express their feelings, but we ask them to remember: still protect yourself and others, the coronavirus is all around, protect yourselves and others while expressing yourselves.”

Ciudad Juárez - More than 50 migrants have benefited from a “Filter Hotel” here in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua. “Guests” have stayed up to two weeks under medical supervision before accessing one of the city’s 17 shelters, which otherwise are closed to new admissions. 

The “Filter Hotel” response is an initiative supported by approximately 40 civil society organizations, academics, and businesses, as well as government—local, state, and municipal—the World Organization for Peace (WOFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which rents the facilities. 

Measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19 have an unprecedented impact on businesses and consumers, challenging governments to both protect consumers’ economic interests and prevent airlines from going bust. Amicable solutions, where consumers accept some new conditions proposed by airlines, are a good way of preserving both consumers’ rights and the service itself.

To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a “Great Reset” of capitalism.

Short-term response measures to address the health emergency and secure core public services will need to be accompanied by comprehensive policies to boost long-term growth, including by improving governance and business environments, and expanding and improving the results of investment in education and public health. To make future economies more resilient, many countries will need systems that can build and retain more human and physical capital during the recovery – using policies that reflect and encourage the post-pandemic need for new types of jobs, businesses and governance systems.

It has taken a global pandemic to raise the world’s awareness of the importance of handwashing and access to clean water – basic services that more than 2 billion people in the world still lack.

Humble handwashing has gone mainstream because it is the first defence against COVID-19. It literally saves lives. But, the simple act of handwashing is unachievable for far too many people. For the more than one-in-three on the planet who lack basic water access, handwashing is not just a lifesaver, it is a privilege.

"We’ve pulled back on some of the digital tracing because of our concerns with privacy…. But that’s because the disease is receding. My guess is that if the disease continues to go forward, we’ll try as fast as we can to get voluntary compliance with these apps - but if we hit a second wave, my guess is that there will be public outcry calling for the use of broader digital tracing", said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a virtual meeting of the Forum's COVID-19 Action Platform on 27 May

Crédito de apoyo presupuestario de us$250 millones contribuirá a financiar los esfuerzos del país para hacer frente a los efectos sanitarios y económicos de la pandemia del covid-19.

El crédito también contempla compromisos de las autoridades para reducir el déficit fiscal, focalizar la inversión pública en áreas de alta relevancia para la reactivación económica y mantener una economía competitiva y transparente, una vez que se supere la emergencia sanitaria.

The President of Cooperatives of the Americas indicated that, “This sector can offer many contributions, for example, inter-cooperation among savings and loan cooperatives that provide financing to farmers’ cooperatives and to individual small farmers to get ahead and to stay afloat in this complex climate. Consumer cooperatives can also assist farming cooperatives to place their products in the market”.

“COVID-19 is not only spreading sickness and death; it is pushing people into poverty and hunger,” he explained, adding that in some cases, “it is reversing decades of development progress”.

Meanwhile, as access to services is curtailed and repressive measures are adopted by some nations, protecting the most vulnerable, particularly in conflict zones, has become even more difficult.

“The hardship of COVID-19 felt by migrants in the form of lost wages and employment – often without government safety nets – is a large part of this crisis in remittances. The decline also results from a host of issues caused by the coronavirus that impact the services migrants use to send money home – including the restrictions placed on remittance services providers and their agents. The loss of this crucial financing lifeline is devastating for both the migrant households and receiving countries,” said Judith Karl, Executive Secretary for UNCDF. “UNCDF, together with UNDP, is committed to supporting the Member State-led call to action and to ensuring that every measure is available to facilitate migrants in sending remittances home.”

Guidance from UNDP, Gender-based violence and COVID-19, also recommends developing new protocols to provide support via phone or online platforms rather than in person, expanding immediate response services in order to save lives, and most ensuring that steps to prevent gender-based violence are in every COVID-19 response plan and budget.

The data and facts are extremely promising: Costa Rica has the lowest COVID-19 case fatality rate in the region, and the country currently has more recovered cases than active cases. There is no registered community transmission, and daily infections have fallen significantly (they have remained below 10 cases in recent weeks). At the beginning of May, there were less than half a dozen infected patients in Intensive Care Units throughout the whole country.

How has Costa Rica achieved these impressive results? Here are five key reasons.

IOM is able to provide vital assistance to these vulnerable returnees with support from the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration financed by the European Union, in the framework of the Migrant Resource and Response Mechanism supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the United States Department of State, and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France.

The pandemic has hit Saint Vincent and the Grenadines hard. Tourism receipts have dried up, as tourism arrivals have come to a complete halt. The economy is now projected to contract by 5.5 percent —7.8 percentage points below pre-COVID-19 projections. A drop in fiscal revenues, combined with additional direct health and social expenditures, will increase the fiscal deficit and financing needs. IMF support will help cover some of these needs and allow the government to ease the impact on the population.

FAPES (Research Foundation of the State of Espírito Santo) has launched a research call for projects to tackle or mitigate the damage caused by COVID-19. The proposals should aim at developing diagnostics tests, therapies ventilators, digital technologies, vaccines, medicaments, as well as social and economic development, among other areas.