The United Nations Security Council on Thursday will discuss the prevailing coronavirus situation across the globe in a closed session.
The Council’s discussion will be around “Impact of COVID-19 on the issues that fall under the Security Council’s mandate”.
The video-teleconferencing session will see UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres participate in the afternoon as a briefer.
Last week, Special Envoy from the Dominican Republic to UN Ambassador Jose Singer and President of Security Council for April said that a Council meeting on the coronavirus situation had been requested by five or six ambassadors and the Dominican Republic was working to schedule the discussion.
“We have not discussed the issue of a resolution… We are first expecting to hold that meeting, and then we’ll see how events play out,” Singer had said last week.
US President Donald Trump has fired a fresh salvo at the World Health Organization, accusing its chief of siding with China and “politicising” the coronavirus pandemic while repeating his threat to freeze the UN agency’s funding.
In such a situation, Beijing is likely to face some heat at the UN Covid-19 session today.
All the 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council have backed the informal discussion led by the UNSC President; the post is held by the Dominican Republic. But whether the closed-door discussion will conclude with any outcome depends on the proposals put up and the exercise of veto powers of China and its ally Russia.
Coronavirus has infected more than a million people across the globe and has killed 80,000.