Aspect of the coronavirus outbreak
This article documents the chronology of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020, which originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect. Reporting on this pandemic began in December 2019.
Reactions and measures at the United Nations.
1 July.
The United Nations Security Council passed resolution S/RES/2532: 'Maintenance of international peace and security', demanding a global ceasefire. The United Nations Secretary-General announced that unless the world acts immediately, with "bold and creative" solutions, the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying global recession would trigger "years of depressed and disrupted economic growth". The Director-General of the World Health Organization stated that some nations battling the COVID-19 pandemic who had been taking a "fragmented approach" to suppressing the deadly virus, "face a long, hard road ahead".
2 July.
The Secretary-General informed the Security Council that the COVID-19 pandemic was "profoundly affecting" global peace and security across the globe, and he urged it to employ its collective influence to mitigate the protections crisis facing millions of vulnerable people, including those affected by conflicts. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs urged countries' governments to do more support young entrepreneurs in the face of the pandemic as part of a sustainable recovery.
3 July.
UNESCO senior official stated that increased pillaging of endangered World Heritage Sites during COVID-19 lockdowns will likely result in a large number of stolen artifacts appearing online.
6 July.
Joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) report warns that the world can expect to see other animal-to-human transmission by diseases and states that there is still time to prevent further zoonotic pandemics.
At a High-Level Political Forum to discuss post-pandemic recovery, Mr. Mher Margaryan, vice-president of the UN Economic and Social Council, announced that the future of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals would "depend on our policy choices today" on the global resolve to act in solidarity.
The United Nations Secretary-General warned that the pandemic had laid bare vulnerabilities to "new and emerging forms of terrorism", such as cyberattacks, bioterrorism and the misuse of digital technology.
7 July.
The World Health Organization announced that it would shortly issue a brief on the modes of transmission of the new coronavirus, including the matter of airborne transmission. Mona Juul, President of the Economic and Social Council addressed the inaugural meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, noting that the dramatic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had revealed "weaknesses in our systems and societies", warned that “a new dynamic” was needed to address the negative shocks.
8 July.
New UN research published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned of a surge in the trafficking of substandard and faulty medical products, due to COVID-19.
Independent UN human rights expert Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, at the second day of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in “a serious setback” for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, urging prioritisation of the most vulnerable.
The UN Secretary General stated at The Global Summit, part of a five-day virtual event organized by the International Labour Organization, that decent jobs must fuel the COVID-19 recovery in order to "build back better".
9 July.
The United Nations Secretary-General called on UN Member States to urgently address the ‘unprecedented’ impact of coronavirus on Latin America and the Caribbean, as it now had the highest rates of transmission, exacerbating the severe poverty, hunger, unemployment and inequality in the region.
The World Food Programme and the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, issued a joint alert calling attention to even greater food insecurity in Africa because of "aid disruption and rising food prices linked to the COVID-19 crisis".
Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, warned that COVID-19 and climate change were fueling inter-communal violence and terrorist attacks and inflaming tensions in West Africa.
10 July.
The World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 cases globally had more than doubled in the previous six weeks, reaching 12 million.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned that Lebanon was "fast spiralling out of control", resulting in destitution and starvation, due to socioeconomic shocks from the pandemic.
Vladimir Voronkov, head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, echoed the United Nations Secretary-General in stating the "need to keep up the momentum" in terms of multilateral action to counter the global threat of terrorism during the pandemic, which was magnifying the threats.
11 July.
As part of World Population Day, the United Nations Secretary-General highlighted that the pandemic had deepened "existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, particularly for women and girls", while the United Nations Population Fund warned of seven million unintended pregnancies and approximately 31 million additional cases of gender-based violence to come.
The United Nations warned that in Myanmar, the COVID-19 lockdown had laid bare the "stigmatization, discrimination and harassment faced by many LGBTQI people, particularly in rural areas" and committed to assisting the community.
12 July.
As part of its response to the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund called for tax systems to be reformed, including to reduce tax avoidance and tax evasion reduced, to ensure an equitable economic recovery.
13 July.
The United Nations launched its annual "State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World" report, which estimates that "130 million more people may face chronic hunger by the end of this year", with the United Nations Secretary General noting that in much of the world, "hunger remains deeply entrenched and is rising". With United Nations estimates of 1 billion children being outside schooling due to the pandemic, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, highlighted the need to ensure education for refugee children.
14 July.
As part of the Ministerial Segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the United Nations Secretary-General admitted that the planet was not on track year to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, stating that "our world is in turmoil", due to the pandemic being "a massive global challenge" and noting that there were 12 million infections, 550,000 deaths, hundreds of millions of jobs lost, and the sharpest decline in per capita income since 1870, with approximately 265 million people facing food insecurity by the end of 2020, double the number before the pandemic. The Secretary-General called on Member States to "turn the tide".
In response to a press question, Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, called for the issue of school reopenings to be decided as part of comprehensive, data-driven COVID-19 public health strategies, rather than politically driven decision-making processes.
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed emphasized the importance of the ‘Women Rise for All’ UN forum in shaping leadership in pandemic response and recovery.
Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, launched its comprehensive "COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme" to ward off a global food emergency during and after the pandemic and to provide "medium to long-term development responses for food security and nutrition", costing an initial $1.2 billion investment.
15 July.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF called for immediate efforts to vaccinate all children in order to avoid the pandemic worsening access, a problem affecting over 100 countries. United Nation Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake, along with the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund, considered via webinar "how young people can maintain good mental health and a sense of wellbeing" during the pandemic.
16 July.
Mark Lowcock, the United Nations' most senior humanitarian official, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession were set to cause the first increase in global poverty in three decades, pushing 265 million people to the point of starvation by the end of 2020, with an appeal to the G20 for $10.3 billion to fight the pandemic in 63 low-income countries.
The United Nations Human Right Council noted that there was a global rise in women prisoners that was accelerating faster than the rate of male prisoners and that COVID measures were "making sentences worse".
17 July.
The World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization jointly warned that hunger threatened "to soar to devastating levels in 25 countries in the coming months", pushing the world poorest "closer to the abyss" of famine.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking during the High-Level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session to review progress towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda for 2030, stated that COVID-19 highlighted the need for "renewed, inclusive multilateralism" and leadership by ECOSOC, the UN's main body for deliberative and innovative strategizing.
19 July.
The United Nations highlighted the plight of hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded at sea, some for over a year, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
20 July.
With Latin America now being the epicentre of the pandemic, the World Health Organization expressed concern at COVID-19's impact on indigenous people in the Americas.
21 July.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process warned that cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians on the COVID-19 pandemic was breaking down, "putting human lives at risk".
The International Organization for Migration warned that fear of the COVID-19 pandemic was causing fresh displacement in war-torn Yemen.
22 July.
Independent United Nations human rights experts called for Iran to urgently release human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, reportedly ill with COVID-19 symptoms, together with other arbitrarily detained individuals, "before it is too late".
23 July.
The United Nations High-level advisory board on Economic and Social Affairs released the report "Recover Better: Economic and Social Challenges and Opportunities", calling for "an adjusted approach" to economic development and global solidarity in response to the worst recession in decades and first rise in global poverty since 1998.
The United Nations Secretary-General highlighted that the pandemic could provide a new opportunity to resolve long-standing conflicts and address structural problems in the Arab world.
The incoming United Nations ECOSOC President, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, outlined a triple focus on the pandemic, the SDGs, and climate action.
The United Nations confirmed that it would host its first ‘virtual’ UN General Assembly in September.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization urged people to play their part in preventing further spread of the pandemic, warning of no return to "the old normal" as global cases topped 15 million.
24 July.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) reminded authorities in Zimbabwe that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be used as "an excuse to clamp down on fundamental freedoms".
25 July.
Tapan Mishra, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mongolia, warned of a major economic impact from the pandemic and development setback, despite its very few cases of COVID-19.
27 July.
The World Health Organization urged all countries to make the necessary "hard choices" in order to avoid a new wave of lockdowns and beat the pandemic, as it announced nearly 16 million cases of reported infection worldwide and over 640,000 deaths.
The World Bank's Chief Economist for Africa, Albert Zeufack, launching a new World Bank report, urged African nations to adopt the African Continental Free Trade Area as part of coronavirus economic mitigation measures, due to its potential to increase regional income by around $450 billion.
28 July.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres launched the latest UN policy brief, "COVID-19 in an Urban World", noting that cities were 'ground zero' for the pandemic and stating "Now is the moment to adapt to the reality of this and future pandemics".
29 July.
The World Health Organization stated that the first wave of COVID-19 was still continuing and that the virus was likely not impacted by seasonal changes like other respiratory diseases; it also urged significantly more respect for physical distancing measures to prevent the virus's transmission.
The Food and Agriculture Organization issued a 'call to action' highlighting the plight of hundreds of millions of smallholder family farmers in Asia-Pacific, who produce the majority of the world's food, and whose livelihoods are disproportionately suffering due to the pandemic.
30 July.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres released his latest policy brief on the COVID-19 pandemic ("The Impact of COVID-19 on South-East Asia"), which examines impacts on the 11 countries in Southeast Asia and makes recommendations for a path to sustainable, inclusive recovery that prioritises gender equality.
The World Food Programme was urgently seeking more international support "to prevent millions of Zimbabweans plunging deeper into hunger" due to the COVID-19 pandemic aggravating an already severe hunger crisis in Zimbabwe.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization warned that, while older people were among those at highest risk of COVID-19, younger generations are "not invincible".
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