Canada “fully supports” the United Nations appeal for an immediate global ceasefire in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and International Development Minister Karina Gould said Friday.
“Now is the time to put armed conflict on lockdown, to protect the most vulnerable and to focus our efforts together in the fight against this virus,” the two ministers said in a joint statement.
The number of deaths linked to the novel coronavirus reached 100,000 on Friday, as the tally of cases passed 1.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Canada concerned about the plight of women and children
A Syrian refugee woman holds a bag of gloves, due to coronavirus spread, in al-Wazzani area in southern Lebanon, March 14, 2020. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said the international community must to everything it can “to prevent COVID-19 from wreaking havoc in places with limited health care capacity and resilience.”
(Ali Hashisho /REUTERS)
“As COVID-19 continues to spread, Canada is particularly concerned about the plight of women, children and vulnerable civilians caught in armed conflict and humanitarian crises,” the statement said.
“We know these populations are already disproportionately affected by armed conflict, that they are more vulnerable to economic and food insecurity and that they are at even greater risk now because of this pandemic.”
Canada is “working hard to prioritize the protection of the most vulnerable” in response to the pandemic, which included funding to the UN and other international partners, the statement said.
“We offer Canada’s full support to, and stand in solidarity with, those on the front lines of the response and the civilians and vulnerable populations in conflict, who require protection now more than ever,” it added.
“During this unprecedented global crisis, we also wish to reiterate Canada’s full commitment to multilateralism and the rules-based international order.”
A glimmer of hope and dread of pandemic in Yemen
A Houthi supporter looks on as he carries a weapon during a gathering in Sanaa, Yemen Apr. 2, 2020. (Mohamed al-Sayaghi/REUTERS)
There was a glimmer of hope out of Yemen.
A nationwide ceasefire in response to the global coronavirus outbreak went into effect in Yemen on Thursday. A Saudi-led coalition fighting against Yemen’s Houthi movement announced overnight it would halt military operations from 0900 GMT for two weeks in support of United Nations efforts to end the conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people.
However, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls the capital Sanaa and most major urban centres in Yemen, said it would not follow suit in what would have been the first major breakthrough in peace efforts since late 2018.
On Friday, officials in southern Yemen, the part of the country controlled by the internationally recognized interim government supported by the Saudi-led coalition, reported the first COVID-19 case in the war-torn country.
The individual who has tested positive has been isolated and is being treated in a local hospital where he is currently in a stable condition, according to UN officials on the ground.
Nurses receive training on using ventilators, recently provided by the World Health Organization at the intensive care ward of a hospital allocated for novel coronavirus patients in preparation for any possible spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Sanaa, Yemen April 8, 2020. (Khaled Abdullah/REUTERS)
Specially trained Rapid Response Teams are tracing, and where appropriate, isolating everyone who has come into contact with him, UN officials said.
“For weeks we have feared this, and now it’s happened. COVID-19 is in Yemen,” said Lise Grande, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen.
After five years of war, people across the country have some of the lowest levels of immunity and highest levels of acute vulnerability in the world, she said.
“What’s facing Yemen is frightening,” said Grande. “More people who become infected are likely to become severely ill than anywhere else.”
Only half of all health facilities in the war-torn country are currently functioning.
“This is one of the biggest threats in the past 100 years to face Yemen,” Grande said. “It’s time for the parties to stop fighting each other and start fighting COVID together.”
Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. Nearly 80 per cent of the population requires some form of humanitarian assistance and protection, according to UN estimates.
Of Yemen’s 28 million inhabitants, 10 million people are a step away from famine and seven million people are malnourished.
Of the UN’s 41 major humanitarian programmes, 31 will either reduce or shut during April unless funding is urgently received, UN officials have warned.
With files from Reuters
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