COVID-19

Photo: South African citizens placed under COVID-19 quarantine at The Ranch Resort in Limpopo Province, South Africa. CC BY-ND 2.0, Flickr / GovernmentZA.

South Africa Struggles To Contain Exploding Rate of Coronavirus Infections

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – South Africa, with a population of about 58 million, has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. It has become the country with the highest number of infections on the continent.

Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced 10,107 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 503,290, including 8,153 deaths.

South Africa’s Gauteng province — which includes Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and Pretoria, the capital — is the country’s epicenter with more than 35% of its confirmed cases.

Health experts say the country could reach the peak of its outbreak in late August or early September.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 August 2020

Photo: WHO Headquarters in Geneva, North and West sides. CC BY-SA 3.0

Trump's Withdrawal From WHO: A Cover-Up for His Abject Failure on COVID-19

Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha

The writer is the founding editor of Newsclick.in, a digital media platform. He is an activist for science and the free software movement. This article was produced in partnership by Newsclick and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Microbes do not recognize borders. We are all safe only when everybody is safe. In a pandemic, to attack the only body we have for global cooperation endangers everyone. That is why the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) is dangerous not only for the United States, but for all of the world.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 August 2020

Every Step the EU Takes Toward Financial Unity Sows New Seeds of Its Potential Collapse

Viewpoint by Marshall Auerback

The writer is a market analyst and commentator. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” is a play featuring two characters waiting for a character, Godot, who never arrives. As such, it is a useful metaphor for the goings-on of the European Union (EU). Observers of the EU’s evolution in the capital of Brussels have witnessed a Godot-like experience of the promised arrival of the long-awaited resolution of the group’s dysfunction and economic malaise that never happens.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 August 2020

Photo: Dr Medhin Tsehaiu, who has worked with UNAIDS since 2011, and is UNAIDS Country Director based in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: UNAIDS.

HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 Require Global Solidarity

Kester Kenn Klomegah* Talks to UNAIDS Expert

MOSCOW (IDN) – For over three decades, Africa has fought HIV/AIDS and is now battling another pandemic, COVID-19, that has shattered the continent's economies. While adequate measures have been taken to halt the spread of the pandemic, Coronavirus has increased the financial burden. But HIV/AIDS experts say strengthening health institutions and commitment by political leaders (African governments) as well as development and international institutions could help to achieve adequate solutions especially in developing countries such as those in Africa.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; OPINION; 29 July 2020

Photo: Collage of images of ESCAP Executive Secretary, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana; UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau's Director, Kanni Wignaraja; and ADB Vice-President Bambang Susantono.

ESCAP, UNDP and ADB Determined to Achieve SDGs in 2030 Despite the COVID-19 Pandemic

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana (ESCAP), Kanni Wignaraja (UNDP) and Bambang Susantono (ADB)*

BANGKOK (IDN) – As lockdowns ease in countries across Asia and the Pacific in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is clear—a return to business as usual is unimaginable in a region that was already off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The virtual High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development recently convened governments and stakeholders across the globe to focus on the imperative to build back better while keeping an eye on the Global Goals.

: Opinion Editor; UN INSIDER; 26 July 2020

Photo: India reported a record daily jump in the number of novel coronavirus cases on June 19 as Chennai locked down following fresh outbreaks there. Source: bdnews24.com

India Confronted with 'Infodemic'

Viewpoint by Usha M Rodrigues, Deakin University

VICTORIA, Australia (IDN) – India is now the third most impacted country by COVID-19, with cases nearing 900,000 and deaths surpassing 23,000 as of July 13. India is also one of the leading nations when it comes to the sharing of 'fake news’.

By all accounts, India has not yet seen the peak of coronavirus causalities. Nor has India reached the peak of mis- and disinformation circulation on various media platforms.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 July 2020

Australia’s COVID-19 Second Wave Blamed on Insecure Jobs

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – As a serious second wave of COVID-19 with higher daily rates of infections than in March has infected Australia, where some five million people in Melbourne are under lockdown, the Premier of the worst affected Victoria State, Daniel Andrews, has blamed the situation on insecure jobs.

Andrews told a daily media briefing on July 22 that a large proportion of people leaving their homes while sick were in insecure work and had been forced to choose between self-isolation or being paid. Out of the 3,810 cases recorded in the state between July 7 and July 21, 3,400 people felt ill but continued to go to work before undergoing testing.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 25 July 2020

Photo: Beach erosion, flooding, increased groundwater salination of groundwater, and unpredictable weather is already causing both floods and droughts. Photo: UNDP Maldives

The Choices We Make Will Determine the Future of The Maldives

Viewpoint by Kanni Wignaraja and Akiko Fujii

Ms Kanni Wignaraja is UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. Ms Akiko Fujii is Resident Representative, UNDP Maldives

MALÉ (IDN) – With 70 percent of its GDP linked to tourism, the COVID-19 wrecking ball has crashed hard into the Maldives economy. UNDP’s latest Assessment on Livelihoods published this month revealed a precipitous fall in the number of tourists. As a result hotels are closing, service industries are shedding jobs, and the national budget is haemorrhaging money. The border closure and travel ban during the tourist season will have a dramatic impact on the industry, as well as a ripple effect on the country’s economy.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 23 July 2020

Photo: Many of the huge numbers of people not covered by social insurance programmes are informal workers, low-waged, women and young people, refugees and migrants, and people with disabilities – and they are the ones hardest hit by this crisis. Photo: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer

UNDP Favours Temporary Basic Income to Protect the World's Poorest from The Impact of COVID-19

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – A new report by the United Nations is pleading for the immediate introduction of a Temporary Basic Income for the world’s poorest people, arguing that this could slow the current surge in COVID-19 pandemic cases by enabling nearly three billion people to stay at home.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report estimates that it would cost from $199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries.

: Caroline Mwanga; UN INSIDER; 23 July 2020

UN Publication Offers New Ideas for Sustainable COVID-19 Recovery

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the government, business and civil society leaders fight the global COVID-19 pandemic, leading experts and thinkers have offered outside-the-box thinking and new solutions to prevent the outbreak of new pandemics while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A new publication of policy briefs issued by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) calls for improving international tax cooperation, more equitable access to digital technological advances, and sustainable natural resource management that complement the broader recommendations of the Secretary-General regarding shared responsibility and global solidarity in responding to the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.