Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Libya
– COVID-19
– Syria
– Turkey/European Union Border
– Deputy Secretary-General
– Commission On Narcotic Drugs
– Humanitarian Affairs
– Afghanistan
– Financial Contributions
– Guests At Noon Briefing
Libya
The Secretary-General has just received a message from Mr. Salame expressing his intention to leave his post as Special Representative for Libya.
The Secretary-General has always had full confidence in Mr. Salame’s work and the great efforts he has made to bring peace to Libya.
The Secretary-General will be discussing with Mr. Salame the way to ensure a smooth transition so as not lose any momentum on the gains that have been made.
Also on Libya, you saw that, over the weekend, we issued a statement in which the Secretary-General strongly condemned the indiscriminate bombing of several parts of Tripoli, including residential areas and the airport in Tripoli.
The Secretary-General calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and recalls the recently adopted Security Council resolution 2510 (2020) and urges its implementation.
COVID-19
Turning to the COVID-19, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke to reporters today in Geneva.
He said the number of cases China continues to decline, with 206 cases reported to the WHO yesterday – that’s the lowest number since 22 January. Outside of China, a total of 8,739 cases have been reported in 61 countries with 127 deaths.
Dr. Tedros noted that, in the last 24 hours, there were almost 9 times more cases reported outside of China than inside China, with the epidemics in the Republic of Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan being WHO’s greatest concern.
Also on COVID-19, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, yesterday released $15 million from the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to help fund global efforts to contain the virus.
This funding has been released to the WHO and to UNICEF for monitoring the spread of the virus, investigating cases and the operation of national labs, among other essential activities.
Mr. Lowcock said that swift and robust action must be taken to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients, and trace contacts, stressing that we must act now to stop this virus from putting more lives at risk.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=02%20March%202020