COVID-19 is not seasonal, says WHO, urges greater respect for physical distancing
Transmission of COVID-19 is very likely not linked to seasonal conditions, UN health experts said on Tuesday, before urging much greater respect for physical distancing measures to stop the virus spreading.
“The season does not seem to be affecting the transmission of this virus currently,” said Dr Margaret Harris, spokesperson, World Health Organization (WHO). “What is affecting the transmission is mass gatherings, it’s people coming together, and people not social distancing, not taking the precautions to ensure they are not in close contact.”
Globally, WHO said on Tuesday that there have been 16,301,736 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 650 069 deaths, reported to the agency.
The Americas remains the epicentre by region, with more than 8.7 million cases, followed by Europe (3.2 million), South-East Asia (1.8 million), Eastern Mediterranean (1.5 million), Africa (712,920) and Western Pacific (291,993).
During a scheduled UN Geneva virtual press conference, Dr Harris dismissed the apparently “fixed idea” that the respiratory illness is seasonal and that it might come in several waves – which is not how the WHO is defining virus transmission anyway, she said. “There is a huge outbreak…with the most intense - the highest numbers” in the U.S. where it is the middle of summer.”
Brazil had also seen high infection rates, despite being an equatorial country, the WHO spokesperson continued.
Turning to countries in the global south, Dr Harris noted that winter was under way there, with samples tested indicating “high” COVID infection rates but low influenza traces. “Now the interesting thing is we are seeing from those samples high levels of COVID, but we’re not seeing high levels of influenza at the moment. So, we’re expecting a later flu season in the southern hemisphere.”
The development is in line with WHO’s latest influenza update indicating that globally, influenza activity is currently at lower-than-expected levels.
In temperate areas of the northern hemisphere, influenza activity has “returned to inter-seasonal levels”.
In Caribbean, Central American, South American, tropical African, Southern Asia and South East Asia countries, the WHO bulletin reported that there have been only sporadic or no cases detected.
Assessing the impact on countries finding themselves having to tackle both COVID-19 and influenza at the same time, the WHO spokesperson debated whether a “melange” of respiratory diseases might provoke confusion. “That would be a concern, because if you have an increase in respiratory illness when you already have a very high burden of respiratory illness, that puts even more pressure on the health system,” she said.
Asked about the WHO’s stance on charging for COVID-19 testing, Dr Harris explained that this was a decision governed by countries alone. “Now we do everything we can to encourage all countries to test, because testing is absolutely essential,” she said. “You don’t know where your outbreak is if you’re not testing people. And we also encourage all countries to make access to testing wide and available”.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
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Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
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Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
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Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
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Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
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Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
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Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
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Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
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Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.