And I have the great pleasure to give the floor to Tariq.
Tariq, as in fact, we have now and I'm, I apologise for the fact that we are mixing up the, the, the, the subjects, but it's because people are available at different times.
And so now we're going to go into something completely different, which is the global H5 and sorry and one even influenza situation.
Then we will go back to Syria because the regional Director for men of UNHCR will be able to come and join us in the room.
And then we will hear from Eugene and from Claire on the situation in my yacht.
So that's that's the plan.
So let me now give the floor to Tariq to introduce the three speakers.
It's not just WHO, but also FAO and WHOA, which are joining us from different places.
So Tarek, if you want to start and introduce your colleagues.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone.
We wanted this morning to give you more information on avian influenza, specifically H5 N 1.
You hear in the news a lot about it as it affects many animal species as we had some human cases.
So this topic of avian influenza covers really and touches on many sectors, on animal health, on food safety, on public health.
So we thought that it would be a good idea to bring together all these sectors to give this really broad and complete picture of where we are.
So we had a, as you have seen in a, in a in the media advisory, we have 3 speakers today.
We have Doctor Gregorio Taurus who is the head of the science department within the World Organisation for Animal Health.
He will be speaking from from France.
We have a doctor Madhu Dingra, Senior Health Senior Animal Health officer specifically for infectious diseases.
We didn't put an agriculture organisation.
She will be speaking from India.
And we have Doctor Maria Vankekov, who is our director at Interim for Epidemic and Pandemic ****** Management, and she is right now in Leong, in Paris.
So we have sent to you already the briefing notes.
So you have some figures there.
But let's start really first with the with the Doctor Torres, followed by Doctor Dhingra.
And then finally, we will hear from Doctor Van Kerkov.
And then obviously, we will be answering questions.
Doctor Torres, please Thank you Tariks and good morning everyone.
Thank you for joining us today as we address this pressing and evolving global challenge posed by H5 N ones avian influenza.
Since October 2021, the disease has caused the death of more than 300 million birds worldwide.
It's affecting the livelihood of million of people.
While historically confined to avian species, the virus is increasingly crossing species barriers, impacting different rates of domestic and white mammals and also causing a devastating impact in the ecosystem.
This development is posing a significant challenge to animals, humans and environmental health.
At the World Organisation for Animal Health, our priority is to monitor very closely the evolution of the disease and to enhance global coordination for prevention and early response to better understand and mitigate the risk associated to the spread of the age.
Our 183 members have the obligation to officially report the occurrence of the disease in animals via the World Animal Health Information System.
In the last three years, based on this reporting, even influenza has been reported in 108 countries over 5 continents.
As today, the infection has been detected in more than 70 species of both domestic and wild mammals.
And of course, these include the ongoing detection of of the virus in dairy cattles in the United States.
So far the close monitoring of the virus has found that there is not any market that could suggest effective mammalian adaptation, but we know the the virus can evolve very quickly and that can change at any times.
Surveillance and early response are essential to protect both animals and in public health, as well as maintaining the trust that we need to ensure the safe international trade in animals and their product.
At the Organisation for Animal Health we regularly update our our science based recommendation.
At this point in time, we call our members to take immediate action to really strength and scale up surveillance system in both domestic and wild birds.
We are requesting to stop animal to animal transmissions by enhancing bio security and early detection system in poultry, in Catalan also livestock in particular in **** risk areas where action need to be taken immediately if the virus is detected.
We're asking our members to also timely report all avian influenza cases, including this animal host other than than birds.
I really want to emphasise that the safe international trade in poultry is possible if risk mitigation measure as recommended by our international standard are in place.
These also include the trade from vaccinated animals.
In collaboration with FAO and WHO, We are fully committed to continue supporting our members through our scientific network partnership and initiatives such as the global strategy of Fabian Influenza that we recently launched in collaboration with FAO.
We will continue guessing with national veterinary services, but also with producer in particular from affected countries.
If we work together and they're the one health approach, we can really mitigate this global ****** and safe work, the health of animals, of people and the ecosystem worldwide.
I think we go to doctor Madhur Dhingra, the Senior Animal Health Officer, Food and Agricultural Organisation was briefing from India.
So we have continued to see the significant global impact of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 N 1 viruses, particularly within the poultry industry.
In addition to the direct impacts on livelihoods, the economic burden on farmers also leads to reduced investments in bio security.
This increases the risk and leads to a dangerous cycle of risk, vulnerability and loss.
FAO has been monitoring the situation over the years and has provided technical guidance and emergency response support to its members through its multidisciplinary animal health teams.
Present in over 50 countries in regions that are heavily reliant on poultry as their primary protein source, HPI poses a serious ****** to food and nutrition security.
When HPI was initially detected in Latin America, FAO conducted a rapid risk assessment in March 2023, which identified the valuable role of backyard poultry production in that region and how it could potentially exacerbate food insecurity in over 35% of those countries.
To reduce the shocks, FAO supported 10 countries in Latin America on Emergency Management and regional risk information sharing.
Just last week, FAO sent a regional alert to the Latin America and Caribbean, highlighting the elevated seasonal risk along the wild bird migratory corridors.
We just heard that the impacts of HPI have spilled over into wildlife and more than 500 bird species and set over 70 mammalian species have been affected, including endangered animals like the California Condor and polar bears.
The biodiversity impacts, particularly among seabirds and marine mammals, and the disruption of fragile ecosystems such as the Antarctic region are very concerning.
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species and FAO Co convened Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza, which has been set up since 2007, has provided recommendations on managing these risks in wildlife animal human interfaces and has partnered with UNESCO, Ramsar, IUCN and other partners on managing HPI in these conservation sites.
With the recent emergence of H5 N 1 influenza virus in dairy cattle, FA OS Emergency Prevention System produced a technical publication that summarised the emerging situation, knowledge gaps and recommended risk management actions.
Recently, in response to the request for guidance from Member States, FAO has published recommendations on surveillance in cattle and other farmed mammals for early detection.
FAO continues to support countries in strengthening capacities for surveillance, joint risk assessments and virus characterisation.
Implementing bio security in value chains supports global and regional networking and rapid risk information sharing and promoting One Health responses to a complex challenge like HPI.
Gregorio already mentioned the 10 year global control strategy.
A key component of this strategy is the transformation of poultry production systems to become more resilient, safeguarding livelihoods, biodiversity and global health.
And this is very much in line with FA OS vision of sustainable livestock transformation and One health in agrifood systems.
Thank you very much, doctor.
And then we'll close with Doctor Maria Vanfer Kirkhover.
Thank you to Madhur and Gregorio.
I'm very happy to be here with you today.
So good morning, good afternoon.
You heard from both Boja and FAO about the situation of H5 N 1 and animals globally and what they are doing to mitigate the risk and support countries.
Of course, you know that human health and animal health are closely linked and protecting animals, improving surveillance and strengthening bio security on farms are critical in keeping both animals and humans safe.
In 20/24/76, people have been reported to be infected with H5 avian influenza viruses.
Most of them were farmworkers.
61 of these 76 cases reported this year have been reported from the US, which has also reported outbreaks of H5 and wildlife and poultry, and more recently in dairy cattle.
While there is much attention on the avian influenza situation in the US this year, cases have also been reported from Australia, Canada, China, Cambodia and Vietnam.
WHO has for 70 years the Global Influenza and Surveillance Response System, or Gistris, and since 2011, the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness or PIP, framework.
WHO and our partners were always in a readiness mode, relying on Gistris that includes institutions in 130 countries globally to track and study this virus.
WHO, with partners and national authorities, regularly conducts detailed virologic and epidemiologic risk assessments and ensures that existing candidate vaccine viruses continue to be effective against the changing virus.
Through the PIP framework, we have also worked to secure access to medical countermeasures like vaccines and treatments and to ensure their equitable distribution during influenza pandemics.
Right now, based on the information that we have, we assess the risk of infection for the public to be currently low.
However, for farm workers and others who are exposed to infected animals, we assess we assess the current public health risks to be low to moderate depending on certain factors including the risk mitigation measures in place, access and use to personal protective equipment such as coveralls, respirator masks, eye protection, gloves, and boots.
Based on available information, the H5 N 1 viruses circulating remain avian viruses.
They have not adapted to spread between people and thus far among the cases there has been no reported or identified human to human transmission through follow up of epidemiologic, virologic, and serologic investigations.
We must remember, however, that this can change quickly and as the virus is evolving, we must be prepared for any scenario.
We strongly advise that thorough investigations take place around each and every human detection to assess the possibility of human to human spread.
In June of this year, WHO issued guidance to help countries reduce the risk of infection to occupationally exposed people.
Other than other than the spread of the virus from infected animals to surfaces, food safety, as you've heard, is also of concern.
Cows infected with the H5 N 1 virus have also have been have been reported to have **** viral loads in their milk.
It is important to reiterate our long standing advice to consume pasteurised milk.
If pasteurised milk isn't available, heating milk until it boils also makes it safe for consumption.
Similarly, we recommend thorough cooking of meat and eggs when an area is affected by even flu outbreaks.
FAO Wuhan, WHO are supporting countries to remain vigilant and are actively working together to assess the risk of the circulating zoonotic influenza viruses like H5 N 1.
We want to reiterate the critical importance of using A1 health approach across the different sectors at global, national and sub national levels to tackle avian influenza effectively and to minimise the risk in animals and humans.
Thank you very much, Maria.
OK, so let's open the floor to question Tariq, please, if you if you want to add anything, just raise your hand because I can't see you on the screen.
So let's go to the questions.
I'll start with the university.
And thank you, Maria, for for being here with us.
And thank you to the other doctor.
I just have a question about the figures that you just provided.
You said that 76 people have been reported to be infected in 2024.
Just to understand, is it a record or is it the, was it the same numbers the past years or are we seeing an increasing of these cases?
And secondly, you are saying that the most of these cases were reported in the USA.
Is it because USA is just more monitoring more this situation so that's why you have more data or is this is this for local reasons?
And if it's not the case, what are the expectations of the real numbers around the world this year?
So thanks very much for the question.
So we have, we've been tracking zoonotic influenza viruses over many years now and since 2023, we've had hundreds of infections.
We do see a change in the number of reporting over time.
The H5 N 1 cases that we're referring to and the ones that I'm referring to in the US are of this 2344B clade.
But there are other H5 N 1 viruses that are circulating elsewhere like we mentioned in China and Vietnam and Cambodia.
And so 76 reported this year is not unusual.
And in terms of what we've seen in the past, however, we do see, I mean certainly this is more cases we've seen reported in the US ever.
Most of these cases have been reported to be mild.
We do have, as you've heard the case in Canada and a young person which has been severe, but and surveillance has increased for sure.
We are encouraging member states, including within the US to have more active surveillance in occupationally exposed people, certainly to those who are working with infected animals.
And of course, as we've all mentioned, to improve mitigation to prevent spread between animals to new animal species, to humans in a number of different ways.
And the three of our organisations have mentioned improvements and bio security.
We've talked about trade, we've talked about the use of protect personal protective equipment in humans.
And so this is something that we have to, I don't like to use the word watch because that sounds like we're being passive.
We're not actually being passive.
We're actually actively encouraging much more surveillance, much more reporting and transparency within that so that the viruses that are detected are constantly assessed so we can look to see if there's any changes in mutations or any changes in the behaviour of the virus.
So there is a greater attention to avian influenza.
I think globally we would like to see that more consistent across the globe and we'd like to see that more consistent across the different animal species.
And again, I'm really grateful that WOHA and FA are here because this is truly a problem across our challenge across multiple species.
So as WHO, we never do anything alone, only looking in humans.
We have to be working at this animal human interface and animals to protect the food supply, to protect trade lives and livelihoods, etcetera.
My question is to would you mind to introduce yourself?
Yeah, this is Mr Liang from China Economic Daily.
And my question is also to Maria.
But this year, earlier this year, we have seen The Who passing through the global, global framework for understanding the origin of new and re emerging pathogens, which gave a big emphasis to the One Health approach.
And now with the AVN influenza re emerging again, how do you see the passing of this framework giving more impetus to the work you have that The Who is able to do this year compared with the back days when we when you don't have this framework?
So what difference we are seeing from this work?
And looking to the future, as you have rightly mentioned, the majority of the cases are coming from the US and The Who is doing a great job in asking the US authorities to do more surveillance in case they withdraw, which is on a presumptive basis.
Do you have a backup plan to get all the status that WHO would need it?
So thanks for these these questions.
So and and I appreciate you mentioning the SAGO framework which was published recently.
This is basically to support Member States to study how new novel pathogens emerge with influenza.
We are very fortunate that we have an entire global system.
I mentioned the global influenza surveillance and response system.
We work with FAO and with WAHA in a number of different ways across different partnerships.
I mentioned off flu, I don't know if that was I can't remember if that was just mentioned in in some of your statements earlier and you guys may want to comment on this, but making sure that detection identification of these viruses.
Sequencing of these viruses are shared with our WHO collaborating centres, with our national influenza centres and so regular risk assessments are taking place.
The challenge that we see with influenza is that in the last four or five years we've seen this massive episuotic and my colleagues have commented on this in wild birds, domestic birds, but also spilling over and and infecting land mammals, marine mammals, the latest of which are the dairy cattle.
So there's a number of questions that we all have with regards to why are we seeing new species being infected?
What can we do to mitigate the impact in the species that are known to be infected, as well as to prevent to to spread to new ones?
And how can we use not only a One Health approach working across sectors, but a multidisciplinary approach to utilise different expertise to understand circulation, transmission and what we can do about this?
With regards to reporting from all Member states who signed up to IHR, the International Health Regulations, we expect the reporting to continue.
As WHO, we have 194 Member States.
We work with everyone, everywhere with regards to improving surveillance capacities, improving sequencing and the reporting as mandated through IHR.
We expect that to continue.
We have incredible, incredible colleagues, technical colleagues in every single Member State, including within the US.
We work with USCDC very closely NIHFDA USDAI know my my counterparts at FAO and WUHA have communications with regularly.
But of course we expect all of those relationships to continue because these pathogens don't respect orders.
And so it's important that we we in the collective interest of global health security that we continue to work together.
Yes, you have a follow up.
Also a question for Maria.
I was wondering, I mean you mentioned that there is no sign yet of human to human transmission.
Do you think, I mean, is this just a matter of time?
And you know, how concerned are you that this is the next pandemic in the waiting?
And also, do you think that if it if this does start spreading between humans, that the world is actually prepared to deal with that?
Thank you, Maria, please answer.
But also I would like to say to the other speakers if they want to chime in, please don't hesitate to raise your hand.
So thanks Nina for these these questions.
So as I said in the follow up investigations of the human cases that have been reported this year, in the last few years, we have not, authorities have not detected human to human transmission.
And this is through your logic investigations of looking at testing of the contacts.
This is doing serologic investigations of the close contacts, whether we're talking about family members or healthcare workers, other occupationally exposed individuals.
But as I said, we also would like thorough investigations around each and every human case to detect this.
In terms of looking at the virus itself, the virus is an avian, avian virus.
It doesn't have mutations that allow it to have efficient human to human transmission or even any human to human transmission.
But this is something that we are actively assessing.
And This is why surveillance is so critical.
This is why it's so critical that we have the sequences shared and the information shared.
But the thing we are also concerned about is these are avian viruses identified in humans, identified in the dairy cattle, identified obviously in the birds themselves.
But we are also looking at other zoonotic influenza viruses and swine in another animal species.
And what we were worried about is the potential for a reassortment, the potential for what we saw at the start of the 2009 pandemic.
We are in an inter pandemic.
Right now where we have a number of different zoonotic viruses.
Avian influenza H5 N 1 is 1 of several and we are operating in a state of readiness.
We know that for influenza, which is why Gisseries has been in operation for 70 years.
We know that we will have another flu pandemic.
We just don't know when, we don't know which subtype and we don't know where it will emerge, which is why we need to be ready.
And so the PIP framework, which was established in 2011, which sets up agreements with manufacturers for the access to real time production of diagnostics of therapeutics so that we can have the equitable distribution of those should we need to, should we be in a pandemic state.
We feel any work that we do collectively now is beneficial for the future, whether we have a pandemic now or we have one later, whether we're ready for that.
The DG addressed this at the last press conference with the acne reporters around.
We're ready and we're not.
I think there's a lot that has improved because of the 2009 flu pandemic, but also because of COVID.
But I think the world is not ready for another infectious disease, massive outbreak or pandemic because we've all lived through COVID and it was incredibly traumatic and it's still ongoing.
And for for many, COVID is a daily issue for them.
And many are are dealing with acute disease and post COVID conditions.
So we as WHO working with partners, with FAO, with BOHA, with all of our member states, with academic institutions, public private partnerships are doing our best right now to be ready for when and if this happens.
I think Gregory would like to add something.
Just to, to emphasise the, the importance of surveillance and I think the, and the reason we are the three organisation are here today is to emphasise the, the need to have an integrate surveillance.
I think the, the keyword here is, is prevention.
We are supporting our countries are we are working very closely with our members to really minimise the, the circulation of animals in a way of preventing also the, the potential pandemic.
We, we very briefly touch on the, on the work we do with the scientific community along with FAO.
Think of the network of scientists of expert of avian influenza that they are those monitoring the evolution of the virus.
And this information is transparently shared with the community and particularly with, with WHO.
So the international community is, is aware and it's, it's radius Maria just mentioned in case we need to take a quick action.
But I think the the emphasis at this point in time is to, to really reduce the, the risk at the animal source.
And to do that we do need to maintain our support to the veterinary services and also to the producer.
So the we have sufficient elements in place to early detect and respond effectively to any potential risk that we can observe at the animal source.
Thank you very much, Gregory Goody Levon Hall Yes, it's to Maria.
There is no human to human transmission as we know today.
But if this starts to happen next week, for example, what is the plan?
What do you, what is your message to countries to do, how to prepare?
You said the world is not ready for a massive outbreak.
What should countries do to prepare?
Because if we start to have human to human transmission, I guess there has to be action quite quickly so we don't find ourselves in the same situation as when we had the COVID outbreak.
My dear, yes, sorry, trying to unmute.
I think you know what what we have.
As all of the organisations have mentioned, we are recommending to our Member States and national authorities to increase surveillance and vigilance and human populations, especially those who are occupationally exposed for the possibility for infection and of course, doing thorough investigations around each and every human case.
We recommend that our Member States share information, especially with our national influenza centres and other laboratories associated with GIST risk.
We are asking our countries to strengthen routine influenza surveillance through GIST risk and to continue reporting through the global platform so that we can conduct risk assessments.
And for the avian influenza or the zoonotic influenza viruses, we do joint risk assessments with FAO and with MOHA.
We hope to publish the joint risk updated joint risk assessment later today.
But I've already mentioned that at the at the global level, the current assessment for risk in the general population, you and I is low, but for occupationally exposed people it's low to moderate depending on the risk mitigation measures that are in place.
We are asking member States to assess and reduce the risk among occupationally exposed persons so that we can detect if there is human infection, to make sure that there's active case finding around suspected and confirmed cases to see if there's any indication of human to human transmission.
We are working with all of our member States on pandemic influenza readiness at national and global levels.
This is something that we've been doing regularly.
We've modified the work that we've done with countries taking into account not only influenza experience, but also COVID experience because we've learned an incredible amount of dealing with another respiratory viruses to make sure that countries have the capacities that are in place, which again, were massively strengthened during COVID to be ready and to be used for influenza.
So we're asking countries to constantly look at their pandemic influenza plans to be ready for different types of scenarios depending on the virus itself for public health purposes, to promote surveillance in other sectors.
And this is again, an animal and food and this is globally, it's beyond the US.
And to really operationalize this one health approach, looking at incentives and disincentives for reporting, looking at the incentives and disincentives for working together.
And as as you've heard all of us say, it's not just a public health issue.
We want to make sure that trade, that livelihoods, that food safety is taken into account.
So there's a lot of work that's ongoing.
There's a whole area of work that we're working on with communities and with trust and with addressing misinformation and disinformation.
But this is our bread and butter.
You know what we do at the World Health Organisation with our partners in support of member states.
So while I say, you know, people aren't really ready for the next pandemic, there's a lot that we have collectively done together to make sure that the capacities in countries can handle this and can work together to mitigate any potential future outbreak or pandemic, whether it's due to influenza or another pathogen.
Just a little quick follow up there, but how confident are you that there will be access to vaccines?
Well, there's a whole number of manufacturers that are working on seasonal influenza vaccines because many countries have policies for seasonal influenza vaccines and administer these every year.
What we have through the PIP framework are, are agreements, standard agreements with manufacturers.
I think we have 16 or 17 agreements in place.
I think we have 18 agreements in place, 16 of which are 4 vaccines.
And I can, I can double check if I, if I got those numbers right, where we at WHO have access to about 11% of real time production of a pandemic vaccine.
And so we are looking with WHOCC's of these candidate vaccine viruses of which several are H5.
We've shared these viruses with manufacturers who are already starting to produce some H5 N 1 vaccines in a readiness state, not for pandemic purposes, but in a readiness state.
And with the agreements that we have in place, WHO has access to about 708 hundred million doses of vaccines in terms of real time production should we need them?
So and that's just the egg based and the cell based vaccines.
We're also discussing with MRA technology, the manufacturers that use mRNA platforms to be able to have access to those as well.
So again, we, we don't want to see, you know, what happened during COVID in terms of the access and, or lack of access to, to COVID-19 vaccines happen again for any future pandemic.
And so we are working actively to make sure that those agreements and you know, and that there are more technologies that could could be used to develop vaccines.
And we feel grateful to the work of the PIP framework through our secretariat here at WHO, but also to the manufacturers that are working with us on this.
Madhura, I see you would like to add something.
Yes, I just want to highlight, you know, the multi sectoral nature of making sure that the world has access to these vaccines in time.
So FAO and BOA through the offline network, they gather all the information on the circulating animal influenza viruses and they presented twice a year to The Who vaccine composition meetings.
And I guess some of you might be familiar with that.
And that's how a lot of the that's where the candidate vaccine viruses are are selected.
So we work not only at the global level to support pandemic readiness, but even at the national level.
You know, recently FAO has been involved in outbreak investigations to a reassortant virus event in Asia, a human virus spillover case through it's through our office in Asia and the Pacific.
And so these joint outbreak investigation teams, they go, they do outbreak investigation, they provide guidance to the countries on enhancing active surveillance on containment.
So I just want to highlight that our work is not only at the global level, but really at the country level as well where we look at enhancing collaborative surveillance and joint outbreak investigation and response.
Yes, thank you very much.
Important to say that I've got a few more questions from the platform, Lisa Schlein, Voice of America.
Good morning, Alessandra.
Thank you for taking my question.
Yeah, also for Maria, I'd like to know, first of all, whether the the case of bird flu jumping from cattle to humans in the United States was the first time that this situation has been identified or whether this phenomenon has happened in the past.
I remember when it was identified that WHO didn't really take the situation very seriously.
It took a while for you, I believe to take it seriously.
Do you think that this might have been a problem?
Also, do you think that the cases reported of of H5N1 in humans from cattle is being underestimated?
And is this a great concern of yours?
And lastly, in previous cases when H5N1 has been identified in poultry, millions have been slaughtered.
Do you advise a similar situation regarding cattle who are much larger and considered as friends by many people?
Sorry, Lisa, did you finish?
So Maria and maybe Gregory also, he has anything to say on the last question.
I mean, I can tell you we take the avian influenza very seriously.
So I'm not sure what you're referring to saying that we didn't take it seriously.
This is something, you know, we established gets risk 70 years ago.
I personally, you know, I did my PhD on H5 N one in Cambodia and my entire experience, professional experiences is so heavily influenced by that because of the the work that is done at country level.
And Maduro, thank you for mentioning this.
You know, we're talking at global levels and all these things that we're doing, but where we have impact is in countries.
So for sure, you know, these viruses are in circulation and you've heard us say many times, it's not a matter of if, but when we will have, you know, an influenza pandemic, whether it will be 2344BH5N1 or another one.
That's why we have to be constantly ready.
So, so this is something we do and we take seriously through our actions, through working with member states, through the risk assessments, through providing evidence based guidance to providing field support, to working across the sectors with FAO and with WAHA and with.
And that's at the global level, of course, working with many of the different local actors who work at the animal human interface and specifically with wildlife, with the dairy cattle we have.
This is the first time we've seen human infections with infection from dairy cattle because this is the first time and we've seen infection in the dairy in the dairy cattle.
I did want to comment, if I might very briefly on Yuri's question around more cases this year because I have the numbers in front of us.
Since 2003, there's been nine, 961 age 5 cases and we've seen fluctuations over time.
There were 76, there have been 76 reported this year, but I can tell you in 2015 there were 145 reported.
In 2005, 2006 we saw 104 and 109 respectively.
So there are some ebbs and flows in terms of the detections that we've seen.
So this is not unusual in terms of number.
However, it is the first time we've seen the infections from dairy cattle to human and so many within the Thank you.
Maybe if I'm I'm seeing the commentary.
If Terry could share those numbers that would be useful.
Gregorio also on the cattle, yes, thank you for this, this question.
As Maria mentioned, it's a unique situation what we are observing now in the US where there is a sustained cattle transmission.
It's, it's, it's true that in certain situation, particularly in poultry, stamping out slaughtered the, the animals is, is an activity the veterinary services do to, to stop the transmission.
The, the US authorities, they are trying to do their very best to stop the, the transmission of cattle.
I think the key, the keyword here is bio security, the transmission between cattle.
The epidemiology of the disease in cattle is slightly different than in poultry.
Therefore we cannot just copy and paste the the intervention.
We do need to understand how the the disease, how the virus evolves and how the virus is transmitted in, in the cattle population.
As I said, we it's something that scientific community has been faced first time since March.
There is a lot of research and investigation going on.
We do know a lot about the virus and there is a lot of intervention that they are recommended not necessarily need to stamping out or to slaughter the effective cows.
They do they do recover said if we if there is a strong past security, if we are certain that these infected animals are not put in contact with another infected animals and if we protect people who are working with these animals, we we can definitely reduce the risk transmission among cattle and also consequently among among between cattle and humans.
The the key words to me would be by security and surveillance, early detection and take the appropriate action in the grounds when the the virus is detected in the, in the the cattle population.
Thank you, Thank you, Madhur.
And I, I just, and this is the reason why we published the guidelines on surveillance in, in cattle and other farmed mammals because as Gregorio highlighted, you know, early detection is key and countries are in different situations of risk.
You know, some that are on ongoing outbreaks in the dairy sector.
For the others, there are outbreaks in poultry, but not yet in the dairy sector.
So it's really important for countries to evaluate their context and put in place surveillance, risk based surveillance where they can optimise early detection.
Nick Cummin, Bruce, New York Times.
If you can see me, we hear you.
Maybe you want to ask you a question.
So maybe I'll ask my colleagues to switch to Jamie Keaton, Associated Press.
I, I see that you are hearing each other.
I'll go and ask the question.
These are mainly for Maria, specifically in relation to the cases of infection in the United States.
No human to human transmission detected.
I'm wondering if there have been any particular lessons that are drawn from the cases you've seen so far.
Are we seeing the infection being sustained or is it accelerating or is it now actually controlled and contained?
And secondly, you mentioned the need for enhanced surveillance in the United States and North America.
Given the amount of attention that it's received in recent weeks and months in the United States, what are the main gaps in surveillance that need to be plugged?
I think, you know, with the cases in the USI believe all but two have direct links with infected animals, whether this was working on farms, whether this was part of culling exercises as it relates to poultry.
And we aren't, as we said, we haven't seen any detection of human to human transmission among these cases.
And that comes through additional testing around any of the contacts, whether we're looking at molecular testing or serologic testing.
I wouldn't say it's accelerating necessarily.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't use the word contained because containment for us means that you're seeing some transmission that's happening between individuals and we haven't seen that yet.
We are, it is a concerning situation.
It's an evolving situation and there is a lot of attention on the United States because we've seen this new species infected.
But this is a, this is a challenge that we see globally and we want to raise awareness.
I'm particularly grateful for the guidance that FAO put out looking at testing or advice and and guidance around testing of dairy cattle.
We're asking for more surveillance, but strategic surveillance, strategic testing within species that we know to be infected.
We, it's strategic testing around occupationally exposed individuals, particularly where we don't see the use or the appropriate use of personal protective equipment.
Um, Gregario, you mentioned the BIOS biosafety.
This is absolutely critical.
You can't just only focus on surveillance.
We also have to look at the risk mitigation measures in the dairy cattle to make sure that herd to herd transmission is reduced or minimised, but also from animal species to other animal species, including transmission from animals to humans.
So I think there's a number of different things that we would like to see happen, not just within the US, but also globally.
Last question, Jamie Keaton, Associated Press.
I didn't hear Alessandro, but can you hear me?
I don't know if there's a problem.
I just think that the number of questions you've received for our briefing should be a testament that you're you would be a highly sought after visitor to our UN briefings more regularly.
So I encourage you to think about that.
My question has to do with the United States kind of riffing off what you had just mentioned, which is do you?
So the United States, of course, the Department of Agriculture has mentioned these milk tests that are gonna be taking place.
Is there any reason that you have to believe that other countries as well should be doing that sort of surveillance level?
And I just wanted to also ask you if you might, you know, there are a lot of people have been over the years been suspicious about either testing, vaccinations being forced You, you mentioned that there's pandemic readiness, especially you're boosting that especially among occupationally exposed people.
Can you give us a little glimpse as to what that involves exactly?
So people don't have to be so afraid about what these testing of the surveillance measures if it does get to the point where individuals beyond the the occupationally exposed people may have to, may have to undergo as well.
So I'll start, but Gregory, you're probably going to want to come in on specifically on the bulk testing and the additional recommendations for animals globally.
So I'll leave that to you.
I mean, I think Jamie, yes, I'm always happy to do Pele briefings.
I'm always happy to to address questions.
I'll discuss that with with Tarek and the team.
And thanks also, you know, for joining our regular press conferences that we have with the DG periodically on the testing and vaccinations.
So testing is a part of, you know, what's happening in many countries in lots of different ways, whether these are individuals who show up at healthcare, whether they're suffering from signs or symptoms.
There's usually a lab algorithm.
A nasopharyngeal sample is collected and the lab will test for influenza viruses.
They'll test for SARS, COV 2, they'll test for bacteria depending on the age and risk profile of the individual and of course what disease they are they're coming into healthcare with and it's a normal part of the clinical care pathway.
It's really important for testing to take place so that clinicians, nurses, public health medical professionals can actually care for individuals based on what they have.
There are treatments that are available for influenza and for other respiratory pathogens like COVID.
And so testing, I think as long as individuals show up in their healthcare provider and can ask the questions that they have, why are you doing this?
You know, what do you need the test for?
And have that dialogue between the healthcare provider and the patient, then it shouldn't be scary.
Every one of us has had now many COVID tests over the last couple of years.
And I think at first everybody was a little nervous of the nasal swab, but we've all gotten through it and it isn't painful.
With regards to vaccinations, we have seasonal flu campaigns every year.
And according to the SAGE recommendations, WHO recommendations focusing on at risk groups.
So these are older individuals, people with underlying conditions, pregnant women.
And so vaccinations are part of our prevention and control efforts for many different types of outbreaks, influenza being another one.
And what we try to do is to address questions about vaccines.
When you say safe and effective, what do you mean?
And work with member states to set the policies to be able to administer those to the at risk groups.
So there's a number of different things that we do to reduce any anxiety related to testing or related to vaccines.
But this is a dialogue that member States and governments have with their communities and with their healthcare providers to ensure that that safety and which people can seek medical care when they need it.
Maybe Gregorio, you want to handle the other question, Gregorio?
Thanks Maria and yeah, thanks.
Thanks for the for the question.
Indeed, we, we really welcome the, the, the initiative from the US to start testing milk from the bull tank that is going to help the countries and the international community to, to identify early enough the the cases and to implement the risk mitigation measure that we just been mentioned.
Active surveillance in the context of the US by testing the milk was a request and, and we welcome this, this initiative in terms of the, of surveillance in the rest of the world in, in cattle population.
The we are very aware that there are some countries already doing certainly testing to, to, to rule out the presence of avian influence in cattle.
So far we have not have any any report of circulation of avian influence in cattle outside of of the US from from where we publish a policy statement.
The last one was update a couple of weeks ago and you can find it in the website.
And we do ask our countries to include avian influencers a differential diagnosis in all cattle that they are placed in **** risk areas or they can show clinical science that they are compatible with with avian influenza in my also also mentioned the they need to be very strategic.
We need to make the most of the limited resources we have countries have to to really target those **** risk areas where we have highest probability to early detect the the infection.
I think the guidelines FAO recently published on that are also going that direction.
And I think the the country will have a clear indication of, of how to do that in in the ground.
So definitely this, the situation in the US is, is calling the attention of everybody that avian influenza should be included as a differential lagnosis in in particular in these areas where we know the virus is circulating among the poultry population.
So that's kind of the recommendation.
And we, we keep working with the scientific community and we'll keep updating our, our policy statement to provide sign based advice to our membership.
I, I, I don't know if you can hear me out there.
So I'd like to thank very much our speakers from the FAO and the WHOA for this briefing.
Maria, I wonder whether you have the time to stay on the line because we have a few questions for you.
But I would like now to go.
Otherwise, if you have to go, maybe Tariq can stay to answer.
I would like now to go to our other guests from the UNHCR.
So I'm just looking at you, Maria.
Is that possible that you say a little bit more or that Tariq do?
Yeah, I see Tariq nodding.
So yeah, Eric is nodding.
I could say for a few more minutes, but then I do have to go.
Do you mind if I take one more, just one more question?
So maybe if, if, if this is the case, maybe I will just ask Christian Eric to ask you a question on M Box.
But then we will go to UNHCR.
And thank you very much to the speakers from the other two organisation.
If they have to leave us, please do, Christian.
OK, we don't hear her or we have a problem today.
There's a school in Germany where two pupils who are in a household where someone had travelled to Africa are infected with mpox and the school has decided to suspend education there doing online stuff now.
I was wondering is this having of what might be coming?
Do you think it's it's an overreaction or is this the right thing to do if 2 pupils in a whole school are infected to close down the school?
Well, thank you, Christine for the question.
I, I've only just seen the, the media about this clip, so I can't comment about the specifics within the school.
I can tell you that WHO and UNICEF just issued guidance related to M pox and schools and can say that from what we know about transmission of M pox, there's a lot that we can do to protect, to prevent human to human spread as the the spread of mpox is really through close physical contact.
Of course, there's other ways that it can spread, but it's mainly happening between close physical contact between individuals and there's a lot that we can do.
So I would advise, we could put in the chat the guidance that we recently published.
And again, we're grateful for doing this with UNICEF of looking at how to protect school children and teachers and people who work at the school.
But I do want to reiterate that this is very M box is very different in terms of its transmission patterns than a respiratory pathogen.
So I see that Shogun just put the, the guidance in the chat for you have do have a look at that.
And if you have more questions, then perhaps I can ask you to, to check with Umm Tarek and, and we can try to answer anything further.
Thanks so much, Maria, and I'll let you go now.
Umm, let's go back to Syria.
We have heard before from Robert Petit Umm on the accountability and justice and now let's go back to to the country, but this time with the humanitarian lens.
I would like to start by welcoming the colleagues from UNHCR William that of course, you know, and Remiya Jamus in says I hope I pronounced well the UNHCR Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Sorry, we have online also Yens for Ocha and before giving the floor to to the colleagues that would just like to flag the statement that the Secretary General made yesterday on Syria on the humanitarian situation, where he said that in response to the recent developments there, he dispatched the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher to Damascus to engage with the caretaker caretaker government on skinning up humanitarian assistance in Syria.
Mr Fletcher met on Monday with the commander of the new administration, Mr Ahmed Al Sharra, and the Prime Minister of the caretaker government, Mr Mohammed Al Bashir.
The Secretary General said he welcomed the caretaker government's commitment to protect civilians, including humanitarian workers.
He also welcomed the agreement to grant full humanitarian access through all border crossings, cut through bureaucracy over permits and visas for humanitarian workers, ensure the continuity of essential government services, including health and education, and engage in genuine and practical dialogue with the wider humanitarian community.
Concluding by saying, as the Syrian people seize the opportunity to be the better future, the international community must rally behind them.
And with this, words of the Secretary General, give the floor now to our colleague from UNHCR.
Rima, you have the floor.
So while the recent developments, only ten days old, bring a tremendous amount of hope and the possibility for peace and frankly for the largest displacement crisis we have on planet Earth to finally be resolved, it also brings with it immense challenges both for Syrians within the country and those who are further away.
The security situation remains quite unstable and fluid, and in the past three weeks we've seen more than 1,000,000 people displaced again from their homes, mostly women and children.
Thousands of Syrian refugees are returning to the country, and thousands more are actually fleeing the country.
We've seen so far returns from Turkey, from Lebanon, and smaller numbers from Jordan, but we've also seen outflows as well.
And it's important to recall that these people are actually returning to a country that has been devastated by 14 years of civil war.
We have over 7 million internally displaced Syrians in the country, and over 90% of the population is living below the poverty line and reliant on some form of humanitarian assistance to survive.
So while we hope that current developments will eventually bring an end to this crisis, we also have to recognise that a change in the regime doesn't mean that there is an end to the humanitarian crisis already there.
Syrians inside the country and outside the country still need protection and support.
Yesterday, UNHCR updated our position on returns to Syria and we've shared that with governments around the world, emphasising that no one should be forcibly returned to Syria and that the right of Syrians to maintain access to asylum must be preserved.
So while protection risks related to persecution from the former regime may have receded, we know that for certain profiles and other individuals in Syria that they may be vulnerable and that other risks may emerge or persist.
So given the ongoing uncertainty that we see in Syria, we could we call on states to be patient, not to make any drastic decisions, and wait until there's more clarity.
And it's important to maintain that protection for Syrians who've already found refuge in host countries and that they are not forcibly returned to Syria.
As I said already, the last 14 years have essentially decimated the country and have destroyed homes and large parts of the country and its infrastructure.
We are on the ground UNHCR with our agency partners and other humanitarian organisations and we are rapidly resuming our assistance and support programmes where security has improved in the country.
So I'm happy to report that at this moment, over 80% of our community centres are now operational again after a brief pause.
We've also made significant strides in resuming our operations over the past week in areas where security has allowed us to do that.
And I'm Speaking of places like Aleppo, Damascus, Hama and Homs.
And we've been also fortunate enough to re position ourselves at certain border crossings, which allows us with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to monitor movement trends, both coming into the country as well as those that are outbound.
And to engage with the people who are returning.
To ask them about their their plans, their intended areas of destination, what their needs may be to be able to direct them to some of these these community centres that I discussed earlier where they can find support, immediate assistance on arrival.
As I said, 82% of those services have now been reinstated.
So perhaps now moving just to a final point.
In addition to the need for a peaceful transition of power, respect for the rule of law and human rights, we also need the international community to support what we are doing in Syria and to support Syrians.
We, we have massive humanitarian needs on a scale that that hasn't in any way diminished.
And we need the international community to support us in our efforts to reach those people, to provide them with assistance, but also to invest in Syria now to move from just humanitarian assistance to early recovery and reconstruction so that Syria can absorb all of its returning citizens and people can become self-sufficient, which is something they want.
And we know that today we are also sharing with donors our preparedness and response plan for Syria.
Now here like everybody else, we have been thinking about and discussing returns on a large scale for several years.
So UNHCR has had plans and has has thought about this in in great detail.
Now we have forecasted that we hope to see somewhere in the order of 1,000,000 Syrians returning between January and June of next year.
So we've shared this plan with donors asking for their support in order for us to be able to meet the needs on the ground.
And that includes the needs of returning Syrian refugees, but also internally displaced Syrians who are returning to their areas of origin and to the host communities that are are welcoming them back.
We're doing this, of course, alongside other UN partners and under the leadership of of the resident and humanitarian coordinator in country.
So we are operating in a very dynamic and fluid situation, but we are agile and we've adapted to the new operational reality.
And we ask donors and member states to join us and to be equally agile and flexible in providing us the resources we need to meet all of the things that are required now to make these returns dignified, safe and sustainable.
Thank you, Rima, very much, really for these updates.
Lots of questions also online.
The first one I've seen was Yuri Yuriya Prelev, RIA Novasti.
Thank you for for this briefing.
My first question is about the situation at the border between Lebanon and Syria.
I remember that one week ago your office was saying that the border is closed and that the people that are crossing this border are cross are doing it illegally because the administrative centres from migration from the Syrian sides were closed.
And my second question is about the situation with the Israeli offensive in Syria.
Do you notice any movement of population because of this offensive and do you have access to the territories that have been taken by Israeli soldiers?
On the question of immigration authorities on the Lebanese Syrian border, I unfortunately immigration on the Syrian side is still not operational.
There is no presence there.
So there's no way to formally acknowledge and register who is coming into the country or who is leaving the country.
On the question concerning movements in the Golan Heights, unfortunately we do not have access to that area, but our colleagues in and off perhaps would be better placed to provide some information on what they're observing.
We can share the the contacts for for Rhonda.
Yeah, just you are not seeing any movement of populations from these regions that are attacked by Israelian soldiers to other parts of Syria.
I mean, so far what we are aware of is that there have been orders issued by the Israeli forces to some villages for people to vacate and that people have resisted leaving.
But in terms of movements to other parts of the country, I don't have any any solid information on that at this moment.
Emma Farge, Reuters, thank you.
Could you give us a clearer idea of why the people are currently fleeing Syria?
What are they saying about that?
And what is kind of the net balance are more leaving than are actually returning?
And secondly, could you respond specifically to to countries who have already decided to freeze asylum applications from from Syria?
To to be perfectly frank, we have estimates based on our presence at the borders, but not having an institutional immigration presence that can provide very precise figures.
All we're able to do is provide anecdotal information based on what we're seeing.
And this is at a official border crossings.
You have to remember that people also move in between border points where they go undetected.
These irregular movements are not tracked or monitored by us, so it's very difficult to give you a comprehensive picture.
All I can say at the moment is that we have seen thousands returning from Lebanon and from Turkey, smaller numbers from Jordan, but we've also seen thousands departing to to Lebanon as well.
And these are areas, especially at the Tortilla Syria border crossing where you traditionally have what we call pendular movements, people who come back and forth.
So at this moment, it's hard to give you a precise figure, but we're doing our best based on the monitoring presence that we have.
And sorry, if you could repeat the last question for me.
There was also just a bit more as to why they are leaving and, and finally to respond to European countries who are freezing asylum applications, right?
So those two, so the reasons why people are leaving I I said in the introductory remarks is that for some, this marks a moment of hope and optimism and the opportunity to return home because the immediate risks and threats that were there under the previous regime have have diminished or receded altogether for some profiles of Syrians.
But there are other profiles of the Syrian population, religious minorities, people who may have been somehow linked to the former regime, other profiles that we're not aware of as yet, but are equally vulnerable and at risk of persecution.
So we are seeing movements of of those who fall into those categories and I should note that those movements happened in the very immediate hours and days following December 8th, but we have not seen any significant outflows since then.
On the question of the countries were and the countries, thank you for reminding me.
It's been a very long few days so and not enough coffee this morning on on that.
We have been very clear in the non returns advisory to all countries, asylum countries around the world that it is just far too soon to make a determination on the safety and stability of Syria.
And there are many questions that are are that need to be answered.
Syrians themselves want to return home.
We speak to refugees, we conduct our our our intention surveys, but we also have call centres, helplines.
We're talking to people that are approaching us at our operations right across the region.
And they're all asking the same questions of us.
Will I have an ability to earn an income?
And what we're saying to governments that have suspended asylum proceedings is that please continue to respect the right to access territory to lodge an asylum claim, but give us and Syrian refugees time to assess whether it's safe to go back.
Thank you very much, Jeremy.
Okay, so vanilla from hall anyway, it's it's linked to also Emmas question in Sweden.
The rightist parties in the government have immediately, the day after us, I left, I told Syrian refugees, now time to go back and put a lot of pressure on them going back also saying that we should now retry really giving them a permanent residency and so forth.
What is your comment on this, on a political party, rightist party putting pressure on refugees in this kind of situation?
I would send the same message that we've sent in our non returns advisory, which was issued yesterday and available for all of you to consult for the details.
It's simply too early to see how safe it's going to be.
We need to respect the right of voluntary, safe and dignified returns for Syrians.
They are making that assessment.
You can imagine people have been displaced for 14 years, they haven't had a chance to live in their countries and now is a moment that presents itself as an opportunity.
And people simply cannot, after 14 years of displacement, pack a bag overnight and return to a country that has been devastated by conflict.
And as the UN refugee agency, we are calling on member states, political parties, representatives of asylum systems to be patient, to allow the dust to settle for us to be able to make a detailed assessment of the conditions on the ground.
But how concerned are you about, you know, rightist parties putting pressures on Syrian refugees to go well, certainly we call on all governments and all actors to respect the principle of non Rafael Mon no forced returns.
It's an obligation that governments have signed on to and it's a principle that we need to respect.
Thank you very much, buddy.
Buddy, you had your end up Phoenix TV from China.
I have a knife, a knife question by my curiosity that on the border has no officer on the Syrian side it seems So what happened for the economic support prevail previously allocated for the refugees is that I mean before the former regime fold out, what did the man goes on is that has been losted or disrupted.
Maybe you could further elaborate on the question.
I'm not sure I I got the essence of it.
Yeah, the question of the economic support before what was going on is that where the money goes on, So economic support to refugees.
So that continues as people are coming across the border now we are able to take note of their presence.
And with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, we're able to capture some basic details about families and where they're going.
And then we direct them to one of the the community centres that is operational in the intended area of destination.
And there they will receive assistance in the form of multi purpose cash assistance if it's available at that particular location, as well as some basic items needed.
Now first survival given the winter temperatures.
So blankets, winter clothing, mats.
In each of these locations we have different forms of support and certainly cash is is a staple.
Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
But but my name even with no government situation, correct.
I mean, the, the, the, the, that's correct.
Humanitarian needs persist.
We, we are in touch with the interim government and representatives and, and I've explained to them why we need to continue doing our work.
And indeed, they have have asked us to stay and to be able to respond to those needs on the ground.
Let me go to the platform.
Jamie Keeton, Associated Press, Thank you for for coming to see us.
I just wanted to ask you, you mentioned that there's the pendulum movements.
If you could be specific as to you mentioned Turkey in particular across the Turkey Syria border.
Is that the only, only place that's or the main place of these cross-border pendulum movements?
And I'd also like to ask you as you, as you know, we just had the triple IM chief coming on.
He's he's very concerned about crimes and you mentioned that that there is the possibility of persecution of some people that might be associated with a former government in in Syria.
So my question for you is how much does UNHCR screen the people that come across and question them about either human rights violations that they may have suffered or to determine whether or not they may have had some sort of responsibility in the crimes that we have seen?
I mean, is that out of your remit or do you work with other UN institutions to try to help along the process of of accountability for the crimes?
On on the pendulum movements, it's not uncommon in border communities that straddle the border between Lebanon and Syria to see movements that go in both directions.
People are are sharing farmland.
In some cases there's intermarriages between, you know, citizens of both countries.
So those movements have been happening for years in border communities.
Now we're seeing something of a, of a trend at the Turkey border where we have male heads of household who are coming in order to basically assess the situation to go back to the family home to see whether it's, it's, it's habitable to see whether there's opportunities for schooling, whether there's an opportunity to earn an income.
So, you know, in that case they would come do their what we call a go and see visit and then return to where their family is in Turkey or or perhaps in Lebanon.
In terms of of screening, I mean what we do as a humanitarian agency is we abide by humanitarian principles and so we provide support and assistance on the basis of vulnerability and need.
And of course, you know, when individuals are registered and further down the line, if we are able to do an extensive or comprehensive refugee status determination, that's when we would do that level of in depth screening.
But certainly the, the main point here is that risk profiles, which is existed prior to December 8th, may no longer need that same level of, of protection or do not have that same ****** or fear of, of violations against their rights.
Whereas now with this regime change, we have other vulnerable groups that have emerged in that process.
Thank you very much, Rima.
I think this concludes the list of questions, but really thank you so much.
This, this was really important.
And I know that your time here engine has been very crammed.
Before we we close with the Syria issue, I just want to remind you that today the Security Council will hold a briefing and consultations on the political and humanitarian developments in Syria.
The special involved for Syria, Gator Pedersen, Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Thomas Thomas Fletcher and two civil society representatives are expected to brief.
This is at 10 O clock, New York time for Geneva, 4:00 PM Geneva time.
It's a public briefing so you will be able to listen to the proceedings on UN Web TV.
Thank you very much again.
And I'd like to ask your colleagues to come.
We go into the last point of the briefing.
It's another catastrophe, humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in the island of Mayotte and Mozambique and in the in the ocean.
So we'll hear from Eugene and then from Claire on the situation of the cyclone and and the movement of people related to it.
Don't know who wants to start.
Would you like to start or Claire?
Claire, Claire, you want to you want to start with the situation, the meteorological situation.
Can you can you hear and see me?
And I know it's been a very, very long briefing, so thank you.
Thank you for your for your patience.
Yet again, we're seeing photos of total devastation, despair, reef loss of life from a tropical cyclone.
These are images unfortunately, that we we are seeing, you know, on an almost weekly basis.
And this time it's a tropical cyclone called Cheeto which hit, which has had a very big impact in the southwest Indian Ocean.
We'll hear from the UNHCR the impacts on on a Zambique.
So I will focus on what happened in the French, the overseas department of Mayotte.
Mayotte is a tiny, tiny, tiny island.
It's been absolutely devastated by this tropical cyclone, which basically engulfed the entire island.
We are seeing reports, as yet unconfirmed of, you know, hundreds of deaths.
And the French President has, you know, declared a state of national national mourning.
Exactly what It's the start of the tropical cyclone season in, in, in the basin in the southwest Indian Ocean.
And it's got off to a very active and quite an early start.
Cheetos developed last week and it hit the Mayotte made landfall in Mayotte on on the 14th of December with wind speeds of more than 200 kilometres an hour, gusts of up to 225 kilometres an hour and it was the strongest storm to hit Mayotte in 90 years.
This is according to to to Medio France.
What normally happens is storms quite often will hit.
Madagascar and on landfall they that they weaken this one sort of skirted around Madagascar and then just made a direct hit on this tiny tiny island of of of Mayotte.
Such was the strength of it that it actually destroyed quite a bit of meteor Francis observing system.
We saw torrential rainfall and very, very **** seas.
We're quite familiar with, you know, with with red alerts, which is normally the the top level alert.
Such was the violence of this storm that Meteo France Act France actually went on higher and issued a Violet, a Violet alert.
So as I said, you know, many, many housing structures in formal housing structures have been totally flattened and the death toll is reportedly in the hundreds and is expected to, you know, to to rise even further if the worst fears are are confirmed.
Cheeto then moved on from Mayotte and made landfall over Mozambique on 15th of December before weakening.
It brought heavy rainfall from both to both Mozambique and to to Malawi.
And as I said, it's the start of the tropical cyclone season.
So you know, hopefully, hopefully we won't see worse to come.
But we need to be we need to be prepared.
You know, we need to have the early warnings and we need to to protect people to save lives.
On the MIOTA, I will more focus on the Mozambique situation and the humidity response on the ground.
So as Claire mentioned, the tropical cyclone Cheeto struck a nod Mozambique over the weekend bringing the torrential rains and powerful winds that the best dated community in Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces.
Those are two provinces that the internally displaced people also reside.
The storm destroyed homes, displaced 1000 again and severely damaged roads and communication network, hampering relief effort in areas already hosting large number of a forcibly displaced people.
Unity Sir, The UN refugee agencies are deeply concerned about the impact on these vulnerable community and is working closely with the Government of Mozambique and humanitarian partner to provide immediate assistance.
Within the first 48 hours, UNHCR supported the largest accommodation centre in Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, where more than 2600 people received emergency relief and essential items such as a blanket, mosquito net, sleeping mat and emergency shelter supplies.
UNHCR is also coordinating the provision of a vital protection service to the most vulnerable, including displaced population.
While the full extent of the damage in rural area remains still unclear, preliminary assessments suggest that around 190,000 people urgently need humanitarian assistance and 33 schools have been affected and nearly 10,000 homes were destroyed.
In some villages, a very few houses remain standing at the moment.
Years of conflict forced the displacement and economic hardship have left the community in the region increasingly vulnerable.
For many displaced families, Cyclon Cheeto has caused a renewed hardship, washing away what little they had managed to rebuild in Nampula provinces specifically.
While some district were affected, the more than 8000 refugees mainly from Democratic of the Republic of the Congo and Burundi residing in Maritani camp experienced minimal damage, suggesting that recent effort to build the climate resilience housing were effective.
UNHS there is also monitoring the situation in southern Malawi.
The storm brought the flooding and destruction to several area.
There is a pre positioned shelter kit to support the government LED response.
As Cleo mentioned, UNHS there is extremely worried that the cycle and Cheeto may signal the start of an intense and destructive rain season, which has historically brought to cyclone and severe flooding to the region displaced the community and their host already struggling to recover, now facing increased risk of a further displacement and loss and highlighting once again climate impact continue hitting the most vulnerable the hardest.
UNHTCR is committed to supporting affected community in Mozambique and across the region, working closely with the government and human industry partner.
However, resources are repeatedly depleting and thousand more refugees and individual and ID PS will need urgent assistance in the coming days.
Thank you very much, Eugene.
Questions on this matter, Nina, was that at hand?
I was just wondering if Claire, if you could could say if there's any sort of the the violence of this storm in connection to climate change and and how you see that connection.
Yeah, you're on Meteo France actually sort of put posted quite a detailed article on their on their website about about this storm.
And so I will, I'll quote from this and I can, I can send it to you as well.
It said the role of climate change was unclear.
Well, I've translated it from the French.
The impacts of cheetah are above all due to its track.
And it's the the direct hit on Mayord.
This is an extremely rare event not seen for 90 years.
Our current state of knowledge doesn't allow us to draw any conclusions about the role of climate change on the track and on the intensity of this of, of, of this cyclone.
So I think in, you know, in general terms, the rule of thumb is that, you know, warmer ocean waters, you know, do do favour rapid intensification of tropical cyclones.
You know, we saw that earlier this year in the in the in the Atlantic basin.
But what is, you know, particularly unusual about this storm is the trajectory, you know, the fact that it's skirted around Madagascar and, you know, the acute vulnerability of this, you know, of, of, of this very, very small island, which was basically, you know, just engulfed in, in, in, in, in, in this storm system.
And, you know, the fact that the last time it happened was, was not, you know, similar thing was 90 years ago, you know, does speak to the, you know, to the exceptional nature of, of, of this storm.
Let me see if there is any other question.
So thank you for for very much Eugene and, and, and Claire.
That concludes our briefing today.
I don't have announcements for you.
Thank you very much for following it.
I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that tomorrow is, as we know, International Migrants Day, 18th of December.
We have distributed the statements of the Secretary General for this, for this important day.
And I just wanted to also tell you we have a new series, video series called 20 minutes, 3 minutes.
We try to give some explanation, easy, understandable and, and and quite lively explanation about the theme of the day.
And so this afternoon, we will distribute the three minutes of this month with the which is dedicated to the International Migrants Day, which the international community celebrates tomorrow.
So I think that's all for me unless there are questions.
And so I'll see you on Friday for the last briefing of 2024.
