UNGA President Cancels All In-Person Meetings This Week Amid COVID-19 Cases - Letter

UNGA President Cancels All In-Person Meetings This Week Amid COVID-19 Cases - Letter

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2020) All in-person meetings of the UN General Assembly and its Committees scheduled for this week were suspended after COVID-19 infections have been reported in a diplomatic mission, UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said in a letter.

Earlier on Tuesday, physical meetings have also been canceled at the UN headquarters in New York following the reports that five members at one of the permanent missions on the 15-member Security Council contracted the virus.

"I have received a letter from the Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] recommending that in-person meetings be suspended until the end of the week in order to allow for a better understanding of the extent of the exposure and for full contact tracing to be completed," Bozkir said.

"Accordingly, ... all in-person meetings of the Plenary and Main Committees of the General Assembly are canceled this week."

Guterres, in his letter, recommended that Bozkir cancels all physical gatherings at the United Nations until the end of the week "out of an abundance of caution" and based on medical advice.

The UN chief also assured that the Secretariat monitors the situation, while the UN Medical Services had initiated contact-tracing with the full cooperation of the affected diplomatic mission.