“Now more than ever, the safety of our society as a whole depends on the effective protection of the most vulnerable. Xenophobia and discrimination undermine our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to address the socio-economic impacts that disproportionately burden the most vulnerable and marginalized elements of our societies including migrants”, said IOM Director General António Vitorino.

The UN’s trade and development body warned that the loss could rise to $2.2 trillion or 2.8% of the world’s GDP if the break in international tourism lasts for eight months, in line with the expected decline in tourism as projected by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

El reporte – Evento extremo: El Shock de la Pandemia at Turismo Sin Precedente en América Latina y el Caribe  (solo disponible en inglés) – incluye un nuevo Índice de Dependencia del Turismo para países, con 35 economías de América Latina y el Caribe. Exhorta a los gobiernos a tomar medidas sin precedente para prevenir la propagación del virus, y apoyar los ciudadanos y las economías en una región que más depende del turismo en el mundo.

As the world continues to combat COVID-19, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the German Presidency of the European Union (EU) to keep refugee protection high on the agenda. UNHCR is proposing concrete ways the EU can ensure a bold and robust response to forced displacement during the pandemic as well as long term. The envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum also provides an opportunity for the EU to better protect forcibly displaced people in Europe and abroad, and support host countries.

WHO provides this timeline of the Organization’s COVID-19 response activities for general information. WHO will update the timeline on a regular basis and in light of evolving events and new information. Unless noted otherwise, country-specific information and data are as reported to WHO by its Member States.

Emphasizing on the urgency of obligations to respect human rights and the rule of law in the current context around COVID-19 pandemic, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner stated- “It is clear that securing the rule of law and human rights is key to achieving the transformational change we need - based on principles of trust, accountability and justice. This ultimately means forging a new, more inclusive social contract.”

Governments in nine Caribbean countries will still be able to maintain their disaster risk management efforts even with national finances stretched by the demands of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is because the Government of Canada has partnered with the Caribbean Development Bank to offer assistance through a new CAD$20 million fund - the Canada-CARICOM Climate Adaptation Fund (CCAF).

Carissa Etienne aseguró que "el tiempo es crítico. A nivel nacional o local, debemos abrir gradualmente, adoptando un enfoque escalonado que se base en una sólida vigilancia, datos y una mayor capacidad de seguimiento de contactos y pruebas". Si la situación cambia y las infecciones aumentan, las localidades y los países deben ajustar el rumbo rápidamente, añadió.

“One of the ways it [misinformation] is spreading is the way people are sharing”, Melissa Fleming, who oversees the UN’s global communications effort, said on the eve of the Pause campaign’s launch, chosen to coincide with Social Media Day.

“The idea of pause is: take care before you share. We hope that ‘take care before you share’, starts to be a social norm that people have in the back of their heads and that will enable a personal behavior change.”

The number of working hours lost across the world in the first half of 2020 was significantly worse than previously estimated, while the highly uncertain recovery in the second half of the year will not be enough to go back to pre-pandemic levels, even in the best scenario, and risks seeing continuing large scale job losses, warns the International Labour Organization (ILO).

“It’s clear that to bring COVID-19 under control, and to save lives, we need effective vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics – in unprecedented quantities and at unprecedented speed”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom.

More than $31 billion is needed over the next 12 months to develop medicines that will be effective against COVID-19, and make them available to all people, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners said.

The contribution of USD$5.3 million will benefit a total of fifteen Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago. Overall, the collaboration will support increased access to Personal Protective Equipment and other critical supplies to assist countries in their efforts to save lives and limit the human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on populations experiencing marginalization or vulnerability, including health care workers.

“In these challenging times we need to reinforce, support and work in partnership with NHRIs to address COVID-19. We also need to support member states to ‘recover back better’ - to use inclusive approaches in their recovery towards achieving the SDGs and securing the social contract,” stated Asako Okai, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau.

La pandemia también ha provocado una escasez de opioides, lo que a su vez puede hacer que las personas busquen sustancias más fácilmente disponibles como el alcohol, los benzodiacepinas o la mezcla con drogas sintéticas. La Oficina alerta que en consecuencia pueden surgir patrones de uso más dañinos a medida que algunos usuarios pueden decidir comenzar a inyectarse, o inyectarse más seguido.

Because the pandemic has led to highly addictive opioid shortages, people may seek out more readily available substances, including alcohol, sedatives or by using more harmful delivery methods, such as intravenous injection.

Reports of some being locked in their rooms, while others have felt totally isolated and abandoned, are some of the examples of discrimination and inequality that those living with disability have experienced.

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries (ECC) and USAID recently assisted the government of Antigua and Barbuda in their fight against COVID-19.

Additionally, as we enter the Hurricane season, the vehicle will also be able to support and respond to other health emergencies and support disease surveillance activities of any new or existing health challenges.

WHO chief and former health minister of Ethiopia said many countries are finding it difficult to obtain concentrators, as 80 per cent of the market is owned by just a few companies.  Demand is outstripping supply.

To ease shortages, WHO is buying them for countries that need them most, he said, and ongoing talks with suppliers have led to the purchase of 14,000 concentrators, which WHO will send to 120 countries in the coming weeks.  WHO has identified a further 170,000 that can be available over the next six months, at a value of $100 million. 

La directora de la OPS, Carissa Etienne, dijo que los países deben ajustar y coordinar su respuesta a la COVID-19 en base a datos cada vez más detallados. "Los gobiernos tendrán que tomar decisiones, considerando simultáneamente indicadores de salud, económicos y sociales. Esto permitirá a los funcionarios de salud comprender dónde se está acelerando la transmisión y qué grupos corren un mayor riesgo con el fin de orientar mejor sus esfuerzos", añadió.

Within the region, the Caribbean economies are suffering even more due to their high dependence on one of the most dramatically impacted sectors—tourism—which, for some, accounts for 50 to 90 percent of GDP and employment.

Given the scale of the crisis and unprecedented uncertainty, governments have had to also deploy fiscal measures to strengthen the health system, protect the most vulnerable and support employment and otherwise viable businesses.