United Nations's video: Ukraine COVID-19 Abyei other topics - Daily Press Briefing 9 March 2022

Noon briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights - Ukraine/Secretary-General - Ukraine/Humanitarian - Secretary-General/COVID-19 - Abyei - Chad - Central African Republic - Ethiopia - Malaysia/COVID - Photo Exhibit - Financial Contribution UKRAINE/SECRETARY-GENERAL Earlier today, the Secretary-General spoke by phone with President Andrzej Duda of Poland. He said he appreciated the role that Poland is playing in welcoming more than one million refugees from Ukraine. The Secretary-General told the President that he will do everything possible to mobilize the whole of the UN system, in coordination with the UN Refugee Agency, to support Poland’s generosity. The Secretary-General is also appealing to the international community to fund humanitarian appeals for Ukraine and bordering states. The Secretary-General is thankful for the immense generosity and solidarity shown by all countries which border Ukraine. They have opened their homes and their hearts to more than two million women, children and men who have fled their homes in the last two weeks. The UN system, especially UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, have mobilized quickly to support hosting countries and communities to provide the necessary protection and assistance for the refugees. We will remain in full solidarity with all those communities which have shown such great kindness. UKRAINE/HUMANITARIAN The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to deteriorate rapidly, with mounting numbers of casualties, refugees, and people on the move inside the country. The UN Refugee Agency said today that more than 2.2 million people have crossed international borders out of the country. The World Health Organization said that in recent days, they have brought in 76 metric tons of supplies through western Ukraine. On March 7th, WHO delivered 5 tons of supplies to Kyiv, mainly consisting of surgical kits. This was done in cooperation with local health authorities. For its part, our colleagues at the World Food Programme are establishing the logistics infrastructure to support its own and the wider humanitarian community's response to the crisis, with warehouses contracted in Kyiv, Lviv and Chernivtsi, all in Ukraine, and in other locations in neighboring countries. And also, humanitarians in Moscow held a high-level meeting today with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Participants agreed to continue strengthening this cooperation for the purpose of facilitating principled and timely humanitarian assistance to all people affected by the crisis in Ukraine. These efforts will build on existing Civil-Military coordination structures in Ukraine ,which already serve more than 100 humanitarian partners, to enable direct communication and coordination between humanitarian partners and all relevant civilian and military entities in the current context. SECRETARY-GENERAL/COVID-19 In a statement issued earlier today, the Secretary-General said that, two years ago, the lives of people around the globe were upended by a virus. COVID-19’s most tragic toll, the Secretary-General said, has been on the health and lives of millions, with more than 446 million cases worldwide, more than six million deaths confirmed, and countless more grappling with worsening mental health. He said that, thanks to unprecedented public health measures, and the extraordinarily rapid development and deployment of vaccines, many parts of the world are bringing the pandemic under control. But, the Secretary-General stressed, it would be a grave mistake to think the pandemic is over. The distribution of vaccines remains scandalously unequal. Manufacturers are producing 1.5 billion doses per month, but nearly three billion people are still waiting for their first shot of a vaccine. This is a moral indictment of our world, he said. It is also a recipe for more variants, more lockdowns and more sorrow and more sacrifice in every country. Our world cannot afford a two-tier recovery from COVID-19, the Secretary-General underscored. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=03%20March%202022