A new
report published Thursday by the United Nations’
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the “peak of
coronavirus in the world’s poorest countries is not expected until some point over the next three to six months.”
...
In an interview with CBS News on Thursday, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said that the difficult circumstances of the pandemic could
ultimately impact the U.S., Western Europe and other developed countries.
“What we’re seeing now is that in many richer countries, the number of cases is falling and that’s good as they get across the first peak of the epidemic. But the number of cases is growing quite fast now in Africa, in Asia — South Asia especially — and the poorer countries of Latin America and the Middle East,” he said.
...
“And because the virus can get everywhere, if a number of cases grows in those countries, Europe and North America will not be saved from a further phase of the pandemic,” Lowcock said.
“While the richer countries should, and are, spending 99% of their effort dealing with the challenge at home, the smartest strategy is to spend 1% of the effort trying to help contain it in these very, very poor, weak countries as well,” the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator said.
...
“There is already evidence of incomes plummeting and jobs disappearing, food supplies falling and prices soaring, and children missing vaccinations and meals,” the new U.N. report says.
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To reporters, WHO’s Health Emergencies Director Mike Ryan said, at the launch of the report: “It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing.”
Coronavirus expected to peak in world’s poorest countries in months, UN says
