COVID-19

Photo: Nurses working in a South African COVID-19 clinic, based on a train, which travels to reach different communities. Credit: EPA-EFE

COVID-19: Europeans Can Learn from Developing Countries

Developed Countries Should Change Their Mindset

Viewpoint by Maru Mormina and Ifeanyi M. Nsofor*

OXFORD | WASHINGTON (IDN) – Nine months into the pandemic, Europe remains one of the regions worst affected by COVID-19. Ten of the 20 countries with the highest death count per million people are European. The other ten are in the Americas. This includes the US, which has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world.

Most of Africa and Asia, on the contrary, still seems spared. Of the countries with reported COVID-related deaths, the ten with the lowest death count per million are in these parts of the world. But while mistakes and misjudgements have fuelled sustained criticism of the UK’s handling of the pandemic, the success of much of the developing world remains unsung.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 18 October 2020

Photo: Migrants on board a boat headed for Tripoli in July 2019. Critics say the EU should not be helping the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept and return people to a war-torn country where they face abuse and extortion. (Filippo Rossi/TNH)

Migrants Face “Double Threat” Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

By Jacqueline Skalski-Fouts*

This article discusses the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic with a particular focus on refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers.

VIRGINIA, USA (IDN) – Migrant workers have been at the forefront of the world economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as essential workers. And this with enormous risk to themselves. They are facing what the International Rescue Committee refers to as an “unimaginable double emergency”.

: Europe Editor; COVID-19; 16 October 2020

Photo: A mother and doctor tend to a young girl with COVID-19 at an intensive care ward in the western region of Chernivtsi, Ukraine. © UNICEF/Evgeniy Maloletka

The World Health Organization Deeply Concerned About COVID-19 Rise in Europe

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is alarmed at the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Europe where nearly 700,000 cases were reported this week, the highest weekly incidence since the pandemic began in March. Overall, Europe has recorded more than seven million cases of COVID-19, with the jump from six million taking just 10 days, according to Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, the regional head of the WHO.

: Jaya Ramachandran; COVID-19; 15 October 2020

Image: The UN says that corruption is criminal, immoral and the ultimate betrayal of public trust. UN News/Daniel Dickinson

UN Concerned About Corruption in The Midst of COVID-19

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations is concerned about corruption in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which it says is proving "to be even more damaging in its impact on the most vulnerable".

UN Secretary-General António Guterres described corruption as "criminal, immoral and the ultimate betrayal of public trust. It is even more damaging in times of crisis – as the world is experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic".

: Caroline Mwanga; COVID-19; 15 October 2020

Photo: Online shopping will never be the same after the coronavirus pandemic. Source: UNCTAD

UN Survey Finds COVID-19 Has Enhanced Online Shopping

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – "The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world. The changes we make now will have lasting effects as the world economy begins to recover," says Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The acceleration of online shopping globally underscores the urgency of ensuring all countries can seize the opportunities offered by digitalization as the world moves from pandemic response to recovery, he adds.

: Jamshed Baruah; COVID-19; 09 October 2020

Photo: Juan Romo, Rector of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). Credit: The Director's Office, UC3M.

Post-COVID-19 Sustainable Cities: What Can Universities Do?

Viewpoint by Juan Romo*

This article is one of two published by the UN Chronicle providing commentary by a distinguished scholar on the Secretary-General's Policy Brief: "COVID-19 in an Urban World". Click here to read the other article.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to large cities. The high levels of global and local interconnectivity of cities leave them particularly exposed to deadly epidemics, as they have been throughout history. The recent Policy Brief: COVID-19 in an Urban World, issued by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, emphasizes that vulnerable sectors of urban societies are especially harmed both by the incidence of the virus and the economic impact of related shutdown measures.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 October 2020

Photo source: The JHU Hub - Johns Hopkins University

A Long Road Ahead to COVID-19 Immunity Even with Vaccines

Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – As the pandemic continues to spread throughout the world, many countries seem to have given up the fight against COVID-19 and are now waiting for a vaccine to protect against the virus. With cases exceeding 32 million, and more than a million dead, the world economy has taken a bigger hit than at any other time since the end of the Great Depression of 1929-39.

The U.S. and India are now showing the highest numbers of total and new cases of COVID-19. Both have stopped talking about how to stop the pandemic, and are only focusing on reopening—or as India calls it, “unlockdown.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 October 2020

Photo: The virus highlighted the world’s structural dependence on cheap, exploitable labour. Source: salud-america.org

COVID-19 Highlights the Global Structural Dependence on Exploitable Labour

Viewpoint by Randall Hansen*

TORONTO (IDN) – In November 2019, a federal government official visited the University of Toronto’s Munk School and asked its faculty to delineate coming global threats. We spoke of inequality, hunger, climate change, sanitation, and plastic pollution, among others. No one mentioned a microbe; a discussion of the threat of immunity to antibiotics was as close as we got.

Four months later, everyone in that room was under lockdown. COVID-19 hit the world as a freight train hits a car stalled at a railroad crossing. The virus has shredded the rhythm of our daily lives, and it will reconfigure our economies and politics.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Decent Work & Economic Growth; 07 October 2020

Photo: A new economic analysis for South Sudan indicates that the economy is recovering, but poverty remains deep rooted. Credit: World Bank.

Cash-Strapped Sudan Faces New Demands Before Painful Sanctions Are Lifted

Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. has now conditioned the lifting of painful sanctions on Sudan until it agrees to Washington’s Middle East agenda and to normalizing relations with Israel.

If Sudan agrees before U.S. elections in November, sanctions could be lifted, opening the floodgates to desperately needed investment for this economically stressed corner of Africa.

Our economy is in shambles, admitted Amjed Farid, assistant chief of staff for Sudan’s prime minister. Sudan can't even get COVID aid from international institutions. U.S. sanctions have blocked all transactions using US currency or products, impeding any business with operations in the U.S. from trading with Sudan.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2020

Photo: Irreecha is a thanksgiving festival celebrated every year. Oromo people gather from all places to the sacred lake and sprinkle the water to their body. In 2019, Irreecha was celebrated at artificial lake for the first time due to the drying up of lake. CC BY-SA 4.0

Popular Harvest Fest in Ethiopia Scaled Back as Opposition to Leadership Grows

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Harvest festivals are a common sight in Africa although this year organizers were advised to keep the numbers down due to the COVID-10 pandemic.

The Homowo Festival – a celebration by the Ga people of Ghana – was held as scheduled in Ga Mashie. Many of the celebrants could be seen wearing masks while cooking pots held steaming soups and other dishes.

In Ethiopia, massive crowds were expected in the Oromia region for the harvest festival of Irreecha – one of the year’s most important cultural and religious events for millions of ethnic Oromos. Flowers and long grasses are traditionally tossed into a pool of water to thank God for the blessings of the past year and to wish prosperity for the coming year.