OK, good morning everybody.
Let's let's start this meeting.
I'm looking at our colleagues.
Just as a, as a, as a, an information.
I have to apologise because apparently the press briefing preview has not been received by anybody.
Cecil has just sent it out again and there is a change, a welcome change, because we've just been informed that Margaret Harris is going to connect.
In fact, she has already connected in case you had any question from WHO, while we did not include her in the press briefing preview.
So you have to know that Margaret's there to answer questions on behalf of WHO if needed.
But I would like to start straight away with Jennifer Fenton, the spokesperson of the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, who has an update on the Syrian Constitutional Committee.
Thank you all first for your cooperation yesterday and apologies if I haven't yet answered your queries.
I'm working to do that as best as I can.
You will have received a statement from the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria yesterday.
The Office of the Special Envoy received confirmation that four members of the Syrian Constitutional Committee small body tested positive for COVID-19, as noted in a statement yesterday, having informed the Swiss authorities and the United Nations Office in Geneva, immediate measures have been taken consistent with protocols to mitigate any risk, and tracing of anyone who may have been in close contact with affected persons is underway.
Committee members were tested before they travelled to Geneva and they were tested again on arrival and the wearing of masks and strict social distancing measures were in place when they met at the UN.
Following a constructive first meeting.
The third session of the Constitutional Committee is currently on hold.
The Office of the Special Envoy will make a further announcement in due course.
If there are any questions, I will come to answer them.
Thank you very much, Jennifer, for these statements.
And I see already Catherine, who wants to ask you a question.
Catherine, you have the floor online and then we have also questions from the room.
Thank you for giving me the floor.
I'm, I'm talking about, I'm speaking in the name of Akanu because many members did complain about the fact that they did not receive answers on the mails they've sent to you, Jennifer.
So we perfectly understand that you're under pressure, that you have a lot of work, but you have to understand that for us also to cover well the event, it's, it's really important that we get as soon as possible answers on all mails.
The second thing is a question regarding the people that were tested positive among the delegations.
The question is, when they've been tested again at the arrival in Geneva, why did not, I mean the authorities, the medical authorities did not wait for the the the results to be published before allowing them to go to the Palais and expose everyone.
Jennifer, yes, again noted regarding the need for information and I will work to improve and thank you again for that feedback.
To answer your questions, again, committee members trust tested before travelling and return negative test.
The test that took place in Geneva was of course an additional precaution.
Full mitigation measures were in place during the meeting.
I'm apologise, but I can't share further information at this point.
Information is only being shared for reasons that are deemed appropriate to protect persons and public health and for other critical purposes.
And I appreciate your cooperation and understanding that.
Peter Kenny from the room.
Peter Kenny from Anadolia News Agency, the opposition Co chair, Mr Alberta, suggested that the talks should continue virtually.
Is this being considered?
Thank you Jennifer for any comments made by others.
I'll just note that any updates regarding next steps in the process will be provided in due course.
As noted, the third session is currently on hold and the special envoy is consulting regarding the next steps and how the process can move forward from here, and we'll share more information on that when we can.
Yes, Jennifer, I'm, I'm not sure whether I will be more successful, but can you tell us what's happening right now at the Parle?
Is someone meeting, is there a plan for anyone to arrive at the Parle or are the people in quarantine?
Are the members of the UN Special Envoys office also in quarantine?
Can you give us a bit more beef, please?
I will just say the Office of the Special Envoy, since the outbreak began, has followed the necessary guidelines and has taken the necessary precautions and will continue to do so.
The office has been taking advice from the Medical Services of the United Nations Office at Geneva, which is in turn liaising with the Geneva cantonal health authorities.
A number of steps taken by the Office of Special Envoy.
We're on a proactive basis and beyond the requirements of the UN and the host countries.
I'll try to figure out what that means.
What what are the recommendations of the medical personnel is Paterson in quarantine would be, you know, a straight yes or no question?
And also, is there any consideration of holding these meetings virtually because it seems like a number of the delegates are in quarantine.
And also, if you have any information about which delegations are affected?
Regarding which delegations are affected, I'll refer to what I have said previously.
Pardon me for privacy reasons.
Again, we can only share information that is deemed appropriate to protect persons and public health, so I cannot provide any information regarding that question.
Regarding next steps, I believe I've already answered that, that Mister Peterson is consulting on how the process can move forward and I will share that information when I can.
Regarding any steps taken with respect to persons who may have been affected, yes, obviously we are following the necessary recommendations.
OK, Christian, you want to give it another try?
The question is, is Mr Peterson in quarantine or not?
The Special Envoy observed all recommended.
The Envoy observed all the recommended safety measures during his interactions with committee members and other interlocutors.
He has not been advised that he needs to quarantine.
And last question from Musa we.
My question for Jennifer Secure com la di Catherine vulner voy pon de PA and O male that's.
Let's let's see, Jennifer Reponder may contact direct the service medical.
Apologies, I don't currently have translation facilities available.
Basically, Jennifer, the first question was why?
I mean, the, the most says protesting because he says that it's not enough to say sorry for not having answered quickly and rapidly the questions from the journalists because this is an F issue and they would have expected to have a rapid answer.
And I'm, I'm summarising a little bit.
And the second one is they have been in contact with these people that might have been, that have been confirmed positive.
And as journalists, what do they have to do?
Do they have to go and see somebody?
Do they have to follow procedures, etcetera?
And again, noting the need to respond quickly and I will work to do my best.
The persons who tested positive for COVID-19 have been requested and have committed to maintain strict isolations.
I'm not aware of interactions that others may have had.
If journalists chose to have interactions with committee members and if you have any concerns regarding your own personal health and safety, I would request that you follow the necessary measures, which I believe UNOG has provided on many occasions regarding the constitutional committee presence at the United Nations, which was overseen by our office.
We followed all necessary measures.
I think Jennifer has said most of what she could say.
I'll give an yes and Katherine, one more chance, but then I'll close the question here.
We have a guest from Afghanistan and I'd like to go to him afterwards.
It's more of a question for a clarification for Jennifer.
You come to to the briefing.
We understand that Mister Peterson is not in quarantine.
You say that is there anyone in quarantine from the delegates?
Yeah, as as I noted those persons who tested positive are at quarantine and have committed to quarantine and all other last question, oh sorry mitigation measures are being followed.
Last questions from Kathleen and again let me reiterate if any of the journalist accredited to the UN has had contact to believe to have had sustained contact with the people that are confirmed or or they that we have had in the delegations.
And if that you have any worries for your health, please let Eunice know and we will we will give you the information if you haven't received it already on UNOC procedures in in those cases.
Katherine, yes, thank you for giving me the floor.
Again, we understand perfectly what Jennifer said and as she said, this is an health issues that has nothing to do with the talks.
I just remind you kindly that the journalist correspondents are are not UN staff.
So normally we don't have access to the UN medical facilities.
Number two, we have the opportunity to have today Margaret, Dr Margaret Harris from WHO, so maybe she could remind us what the consequences are to be exposed to people that are positive.
And I remind kindly to Jennifer that it's not a choice for journalists to be exposed with COVID-19 infected people from delegation.
It is our job to cover the event.
Just let me let me just reiterate, you are not journalists, are not staff of the UN.
However, this is something that occurred in the UN premises.
And while you don't have the right as a staff to be followed by the medical service, the medical service is there also to advise and give guidelines for people who are coming to the Palace for professional reasons.
So please, if there's anybody who's concerned with that, please let Eunice know and we will tell you exactly how the medical service can help and which kind of guidelines we can give you.
So Jennifer, you wanted to add something maybe.
Otherwise I will give the word to to Margaret if she has anything.
No, just say again, noting the need for timely responses and I will work to do that better.
I believe you guys all have my cell phone, so please feel free to call me and I will do the best I can to get those answers to you.
And thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
Thank you very much, Jennifer.
Margaret, is there any advice that you feel you could give to the journalist on this precise occurrence?
Margaret Harris for for the Bridge of Margaret.
So, so the first thing is to know what your exposure is.
Have you been in close contact, close proximity, closer than two metres, closer than one metre for longer than 15 minutes?
Were you in a closed environment where the ventilation was poor?
Had you taken precautions?
Did you know do the hand washing if you're in close proximity, did you wear a mask?
So all these conditions and if you are not satisfied that those things have been done, contact the people who are in charge of the contact tracing for identifying those who are at risk.
So that should be your first step.
Secondly, of course, monitor your health and if you are at all concerned that you maybe have been in contact while you're waiting for further information or testing, isolate yourself from your family members and others whom you may consider people you are close to and if you're travelling to and from.
Or wear a mask to ensure that if indeed you have been infected, you're not transmitting via your mouth or nose.
Thank you for this advice, is Margaret.
Yes, thank you, Alessandra.
Maybe it will be easier for Eunice to send a global mail to all the journalists and not ask people 1 by 1 to contact your your office.
A global mail to say, I mean, Doctor Margaret Harris just said we should be in contact with the people in charge of tracing.
So maybe you could put some, I don't know, contact number or an e-mail address that people could contact without disturbing Eunice.
Go straight to the people in charge of health.
We'll see what we can do on that.
Thank you and thank you, Margaret.
And as I said, Margaret remains available for questions together with Anne Sophia Fisher from ILO, Paul Dillon from IOM, Graham Alabster, sorry, Alabastair from UN Habitat and Shabia Man to HCR.
So thank you for staying with us.
Now I would like to give the floor and welcome Mr Abdullah Al Dardari, who's the UNDP Resident Representative in Afghanistan, who's on Zoom with us.
And to introduce him, I will give now the floor to Sarah Bell, the spokesperson of UNDP in Geneva.
We we finalised late July a report on the Socio economic impact assessment of COVID-19 in Afghanistan.
The results are quite alarming and show that poverty could dramatically increase among the majority of the population.
Our Resident Representative Abdullah Al Dadahi will give you an idea of the current situation in the country.
While the report was done some weeks ago, the dramatic impact of the pandemic as predicted by the report is growing and he's requiring more than ever additional support to meet the need of the most vulnerable.
And I'm pleased to have Abdullah with us and give him the floor to give you an update on the current situation in the country.
Abdullah, you are connected.
Abdullah, you are connected.
Yes, thank you very much for the opportunity.
COVID-19 only accentuated already a very challenging development, the situation in Afghanistan.
Poverty has been increasing, had been increasing in Afghanistan before COVID-19.
In fact, the figure, the percentage of poverty increased from around 40% to almost 55% from 2001 to 2019.
With COVID-19, the percentage according to our modelling, the percentage has increased to 69% and it is expected to grow further according to the transmission scenarios prepared by the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan.
So multi dimensional poverty also increased considerably in the last few months, averaging 70% as well of all the population.
So monetary poverty and multi dimensional poverty have been increasing.
Unemployment has just jumped from around 15% to around 21%, and it's expected to remain at that level until 2024.
A dramatic drop in GDP by almost 6%, which according to our new modelling which will be published in the next note, the GDP by 2024 will never catch up with the pre COVID-19 projections for those next four years.
So that is a dramatic impact on the country that's already suffering from considerable developmental challenges.
In addition to the security and the the political challenge.
We looked also at specific situations like Afghanistan has already transferred $250 million from other resources, other budgets to deal with COVID-19.
And we looked at that, the impact of that transfer and if this transfer is not covered by other resources such as donors funding that, that transfer of $250 million to deal with COVID-19 will cost 1.32 percentage points of GDP.
However, if donors cover through grants this funding, the impact will be 0.03, almost negligible.
So also we can see that we tried to look at what could be done in the short term.
And so we proposed a a set of scenarios for social protection schemes that could alleviate and mitigate the short term and the immediate impact.
And those schemes look at possibility of cash transfers of $15.00 a month to certain groups of the population.
And we found out that if we want to do that to the, to the average, to the working population, the working age population, that will cost almost 12.5% of GDP, way beyond the fiscal space available to Afghanistan.
If we want to give this to to sorry, if you want to give to all the population, this will cost 12.7% of GDP.
If you want to give cash transfers of $15.00 a month per household, it will cost 8.4% of GDP.
That's not within the fiscal space available to the government.
There is an alternative, at least short term alternative.
We are simulating the impact of cash transfers to the elderly, everyone above 65 years old and that will cost around $43 million, which is 0.23% of the GDP.
And in, in societies with large households where the grandparents are in the household, the impact of cash transfers to the elderly would be, would reach the rest of the household and not just, not just the, the, the, the individuals receiving the cash transfer.
We are also looking at the SD GS impact of COVID-19.
And I have to say that we have already the, the ability of Afghanistan to move forward towards, in, in the decade of action towards 2030 to achieve partially at least, the SD GS has been hit hard.
We are currently preparing A detailed assessment of what is the impact on each SDG.
But you can imagine that SDG 3 on health very badly affected, even though SDG target 3D, which is management of national and global health risks is not even part of the Afghanistan SDG.
So not only we, we are, we need to look at the exact impact of this, the pandemic on SD GS in general.
This will call for a complete revision of how we look at SD GS in Afghanistan.
The question also, however, this there is a silver lining I'd like to stress here.
We also simulated the possibilities of increasing regional cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours and its partners.
And we found out that by just reducing the cost of trade between Afghanistan and its neighbours, Afghanistan could gain 4 percentage points of growth.
This is huge at a relatively low cost.
And not only this, this is a win win situation where all the neighbours GDP would increase by moving.
So we are calling here for a much increased regional cooperation to deal with the pandemic and also with the socio economic impact and also opening new frontiers for economic growth at relatively fast pace if neighbours agree to that.
So the, the, the, the idea here is to combine measures in the fiscal policy of the country where we believe that we can improve the efficiency of the budget, reduce corruption, enhance effectiveness, at the same time enhance international cooperation to support Afghanistan towards well targeted interventions like the ones I mentioned and enhance regional cooperation for Afghanistan.
Because this is a win win situation for the country and all its partners and it should be supported by the international community.
Let me stop here and I am ready to answer any questions.
Thank you very much, Mr Adardari.
I'm looking now at the journalist for questions in the room, I don't see any.
And online, let me give them some moments, but I don't see any heads up.
So I think that we can thank you very much for this extensive presentation of your findings and wish you a good continuation.
No, no, no, that's not a hand up.
So thank you very much, Sir.
And thank you Sarah for for introducing you.
I'm bringing you to the Geneva press score.
We'll continue with the Anktad with Katherine.
Why Katherine is coming to the podium.
I would like to remind you that yesterday we, I mean, some of you have been able to follow the, the presentation by UNWTO of the, sorry, I'm coming, taking here of the Secretary General's policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on tourism.
Um, we have been seeing in this report, uh, the overview of the social economic impacts from the pandemic on tourism, including the, on the millions of livelihood it sustains.
The the brief highlights the role that tourism plays in advancing the SDGS, including its relationship with environmental goals and culture.
The brief quotes on the urgency of mitigating the impacts of livelihood, especially for women and youth in the informal sector and acted had spoken about this in a press release.
And Cathy, you want to add something to that?
Yeah, we all may remember that from the 1st of July, we issued a report on the analysis of COVID-19 on tourism and in particular on small island developing states who are very dependent on this, on this economic activity.
This is a a transition for me to inform you that the next UNCTAD conference, the Quadrienal conference, the 15th will be held in Bridgeton and Barbados.
They sit as small island developing states in April 2021 from 25th to 30th of April 2021.
It was previously planned to be held in October 2020.
And you know why this is to be postponed.
It's an opportunity for all member states of long time the UN member states to dig deeper into the the opportunities to further reach the the SDGS along the development prospects of all countries that we are serving your pesto Francais la conferos Caprienal and La Fiote and stoned decisioned like you said.
In evaluation, the impact.
Basically, Catherine, this gives me the opportunity to to tell you, to inform you that we have been asking our colleagues, spokespersons from the various agencies to update the list of priorities and events that we had distributed to you in February.
And as soon as we have the feedback of everybody we've just started, we will send it to you so you have an idea of the calendar until the end of the year.
And also thank you, Catherine, for the information about tourism.
I just wanted to remind everybody that we've sent you the brief on the COVID-19 and tourism, including the links to the brief that the pre brief that was given yesterday by UNWTO speakers.
And if you have and the key messages and if you need other information on that, please let us know.
So I'm looking at now at the journalist if there's any question for Catherine in the room or online.
No, but I guess it would be yes, useful Catherine, if you could just maybe send these dates that you have mentioned in writing in the notes.
Yes, thank you very much.
And before I go to Elizabeth, I just wanted to mention another announcement that to the press briefing of the 1st of September will exceptionally start at 11:00 instead of 10/30 as usual.
But we will repeat this on Friday and we'll put it in a note.
And I would just like to remind you that the briefing on the Secretary General's report on digital financing, which will be launched tomorrow at 10:00 in New York, the briefing for you, for the press will be held today at 88 AM New York time, which is 2:00 PM Geneva time.
The briefers will be Akin Steiner, UNDP Administrator and Co Chair of the Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, and Simon Zadik, who's the head of the Task Force secretariat.
This is all embargoed until the launch of the report tomorrow at 10 AM New York Times, 2:00 PM Geneva time.
You have received the invitation to this briefing, which will be moderated by our colleagues in New York.
And that's it for the announcement.
So now let's go to Elizabeth Pierce, who should be as she is connected, who has a brief on Lebanon.
Thank you, Alexandra and good morning, everyone.
I have a very short update on the logistic WFP logistics operation in Lebanon.
As of today, WFP has brought into Lebanon 12,500 metric tonnes of wheat flour to stabilise the price of bread across the country.
The wheat flour shipment arrived in Beirut on 18 of August.
WFP has also airlifted and delivered equipment to enable bulk grain handling and storage to ensure there is no disruption in the commercial food supply chain.
WFP has also begun constructing mobile storage units at Beirut Airport which will be used to store the wheat flour if needed and can be used as storage space for baked food items and non food items by other humanitarian partners or the private sector.
WFP has procured 150,000 food parcels to distribute to families impact by the economic crisis and COVID-19 lockdown measures.
As of 21st of August, WFP has distributed over 1000 family food parcels reaching 5416 beneficiaries and 200 parcels distributed to partners to support kitchens providing 3000 meals per day in Carantina, Burj, Hamoud, Gemaise, Gaitawi, Conda, El Gami which are neighbourhood of Beirut.
Sorry for the pronunciation.
WFP is also working with local partners to provide food parcels to family impacted by the blast who have access to functioning kitchens.
Each food parcels contain around 60 kilos of food items, enough for a family of five, four months.
The emergency assistance WFP is launching in Lebanon requires a total of 235,000,000 for six months to provide food support and logistics and supply chain support to the country.
France programme continues operation assistance transport the Farin so we said cardezone the Farine transporte paravion the the the.
I just wanted to check whether, Elizabeth, you think that these efforts in themselves are enough to eliminate the risk of food shortages in Lebanon given, you know, the destruction of the large grain silo silo in the blast or is it still a risk?
I think WFP has been on the ground since the very beginning as it sees the situation in the Port of Beirut.
There are approximately 30% of the Port of Beirut, which is operational and we use those 30% at the maximum.
And we have already started building those mobile storage for us and also for the humanitarian partners.
And we continue to scale up our operation, logistic operation, bringing food parcels with flower shipment and also expanding our E voucher programme, cash assistance programme in the country to avoid any disruption of the supply food chain of course and also to stabilise food prices in the country.
The food prices according to the Lebanese Statistics department have increased by 245% recently.
So it is, it's an emergency assistance of course and we continue also our long term and medium term operation in the country to avoid any food shortage.
Any question, other question in the room online, I didn't see any.
Elizabeth, you had another item for the briefing, the Rohingya crisis, right?
Yes, I would like to talk about the Rohingya crisis.
Three years into this crisis, men, women, children in the refugee camp of Cox Bazar in Bangladesh are more vulnerable than ever, facing multiple crises.
Within a crisis, almost all Rohingya remain entire fairly dependent on WFP food assistance to survive.
The main refugee camp is the largest and the most overcrowded in the world, where social distancing is almost impossible and uncontained outbreak of COVID-19 in these camps could be devastating the monsoon.
This monsoon, more than 109,000 people in the camps have been affected by rain with almost 9000 displays.
Since the 1st of June, WFP has been launching its rapid Emergency Response plan to provide food support when needed.
This availability of food in camps outside of WFP assistance has been shrinking.
Price are rising supply chain disruption due to COVID-19.
Lockdown measures are also affecting availability of fresh food in WFPE voucher outlets.
The international community must not turn its back on the Rohingya.
It cost WFP $24 million every month to feed 860,000 refugee, and without continued support from the international community, the situation for this refugee would rapidly deteriorate.
WFP will reach half a million people in Cox's Bazar district with food and cash support through its COVID-19 response for the host community.
88% of Rohingya refugee receive food assistance through E vouchers.
The E voucher scale up was due to be completed in the first half of 2020 to cover all camp presidents, but due to COVID-19, it had been pushed toward the end of 2020.
However, WFP has managed to open 4 new E voucher outlets since the beginning of the pandemic.
12% of Rohingya refugee receive in kind distribution of rice, lentils and oil measure have been taken at in kind distribution sites to mitigate the risk posed by COVID-19.
Elizabeth, any question on the on this item, Lisa, Good morning everybody.
Nice to see you all in good spirits.
Elizabeth, pay attention.
Look, are are you are you running out of cash to feed all of these people?
And what are if you would be a little bit more descriptive about the impact of the lack of food on this huge population of refugees.
Like if you could talk about the condition of the children, Are they is our malnutrition levels rising among them?
Are they getting ill or any of them in in danger of of of of deaths because they may not be getting the kind of nutritional food that they need.
And in general, if you could just give us more of an insight in terms of what what it is like to be a a refugee in Cox's Bazaar and not having enough to eat.
And if you could also answer that question about whether, you know, are you running out of cash?
And if you don't have the money, are you going to have to, I mean, are people not getting enough to eat right now and you're going to have to cut rations even more?
Thank you, Elizabeth, WFP continue to assist the population and the most vulnerable in in Cox spatter in the refugee camps.
The cost per months that I told you is $24.00 per month so far.
We constantly receive donation and and from money from donors and we thank the international community for their support.
But they have to keep on the the effort and keep on contributing because this has been this crisis has been going on from three years and the people with the COVID-19 crisis just need our support more and more.
And as I said, they survive only thanks to WFP food assistance.
So we must continue keep up our efforts regarding the nutrition in the refugee camps.
WFP provides now blanket supplementary food as part as general food assistance package so family do not need to visit multiple distribution centres and in addition we provide to over 21,600 moderately malnourished children under 5.
We provide them with treatment for moderate malnutrition.
We also provide this treatment for pregnant and breastfeeding women in in the camps.
We also support host community with food assistance.
We target half a million people in Cotts Bazaar district, people who have been affected by COVID-19 restriction with food and cash assistance.
We also provide with school feeding assistance.
Schools have been closed and WFP is reaching almost 135,000 children in the host community through door to door distribution of food ration and more than 276,000 Rohingya children are assisted with extra ration in the general food assistance package.
So we keep up up our effort, we scale up our operation.
We thanks donor for their generous contribution so far, but they must keep up their effort though we can continue to provide assistance and so far the this food assistance is going on and we continue our operation in in the camps.
Elizabeth, are you running a funding deficit?
How much money do you need?
And by the way, you said you need $24.00 a month.
I think you meant $24,000,000 a month, 2424 million a month.
So if, if you could tell me what your funding deficit is, how much cash you actually need?
How much are you actually getting?
And then I asked you if you have any numbers in terms of malnutrition rates, whether the whether it's obvious that this is going up and whether children are getting sick as a consequence.
It's true with this all the layers, the crisis layers, COVID and and monsoon climate, climate shocks and and so and so forth.
It's true that we have to keep up and scale up our operation regarding the funding WFP in fact as not the same system of funding appeals, we do not appeal.
You know, we, we work with the, the, the funding we get on a, on a regular basis.
So I so far I do not have the overall funding for this crisis, but I can, I will come back to you with this precise funding I need to to get from our office.
And but as soon as far as we get those $24 million per month, we continue our operation.
And you have seen that in the recent months, there are so many crises needing funding contribution and you have silent crisis, sure.
But we, because of this anniversary of the three years crisis, we remind the donors that they have to keep up their effort.
But I will come back to you with precise funding.
Elizabeth and I would now go to our last but not least speaker Claire, not least on the tropical storm Laura.
OK, so this time last week I was briefing you on the extreme heat in the United States.
And now one week later, we're facing two major hazards from floods and from fire.
So let's talking about the floods.
First of all, the very active Atlantic tropical cyclone season is continuing.
Tropical Storm Laura is is developed, has developed and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane later today.
This is according to the US National Hurricane Centre.
Laura's then expected to strengthen on Wednesday and could be a strong Category 2 when it approaches the the US coast.
The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Noah recently updated it's hurricane season outlook to predict 19 to 25 named storms, of which 7 to 11 of these are expected to be hurricanes and 3:00 to 6:00 will be major hurricanes.
So that's category three level and and above.
We're just entering the phase of the hurricane Tropic, the Atlantic hurricane season, which is traditionally the most active.
We normally say, you know, from about the 20th of August onwards.
So obviously it's it's a situation which is of concern and, and obviously the emergency preparations and response are complicated by by by the COVID pandemic.
One of the concerns, certainly at the weekend, was that Laura would combine with another named Storm Marco to hit the same reason region at about the same time.
Now the worst case scenario luckily was averted.
Marco fizzled out overnight, but we still will see.
You know, the impacts of the heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Marco combined with what is expected to be very, very heavy rainfall and and flooding from from tropical storm stroke hurricane Hurricane Laura.
So that's for the that's as far as the hurricane is concerned.
And then obviously a lot in the news at the moment is the opposite situation.
The West Coast of California where there is very, very, very bad wildfires again.
It's destroyed more than 1,000,000 acres of of land, which is more than 400,000 hectares and sadly claimed a number of lives.
The US National Weather Service is warning of the risk this week of more dry thunderstorms.
So these are thunderstorms which have lightning and so can spark fires but bring very little rain.
So there is an additional fire, fire ****** to certainly in the earlier part of this week and that's it.
Christian is a question for you.
Not for Claire this time.
Let me ask if there is any question for Claire then in the room or online, please raise your hands.
So thank you very much for this briefing.
And Christian, please ask your question.
I hope Margaret is still with us.
Yes, she is so Christian.
Ask her your question, please.
This is about reinfection.
There was this case in Hong Kong yesterday and I believe there are more cases that have been documented today.
I'm not exactly sure about the details, but can you update us on what The Who take is on the risk or the possibility of reinfection, second infection with COVID?
The important thing here is that this is this is clear documentation.
So we've had anecdotal reports every now and then of people who've tested negative then tested positive.
And it hasn't been clear up until this case whether that was simply a problem with testing or whether people were getting infected a second time.
But the important, other important thing to note is the numbers are very, very small.
So this this is 1 documented case in over 23 million and we will probably see other documented cases, but it seems to be not a regular event.
We would have seen many more cases, but it's very important to understand what this means in terms of immunity.
And This is why we have got a lot of research groups actually tracking people, measuring antibodies, trying to understand how long the immune protection lasts, the natural immune protection.
And that should be understood as it is not the same as the immune protection that a vaccine provides.
So when you stimulate immune protection with a vaccine, you're doing a very targeted stimulus of immunity.
And a lot of the evaluation of a vaccine is to ensure that the immunity you've stimulated actually protects.
And also years and years and years of follow up tell you how long that immunity lasts.
So it's important, it's an important part of another piece of information in the science.
But the important thing to understand is today that the numbers are very, very small.
Sorry, 11, little follow up.
Are you saying that the immune immune response triggered by a vaccine is potentially stronger or weaker than an immune response through an actual infection?
You want it to be stronger?
So I mean, it depends on the virus.
Each virus has different sort of profiles of kind of immunity that they stimulate what we call natural immunity.
That's if you're infected, what your body, the system does with it and with a vaccine, you ideally want stronger immunity that that's one of the things you're looking for when you're studying what sort of immunity your candidate vaccine stimulates.
Nice to see you, Alessandra.
This is a question related to what Claire said and is for, for Margaret.
And the, the, the, what are the guidelines for the, the, you know, people are taken to shelters and I mean, the governments are going to be overwhelmed because they have to put people in shelters.
And what about COVID and people, you know, it's, it's it's hard.
So are there any guidelines or any advice for the governments that are going to hit with hurricanes or with a Yeah, yeah.
So you're speaking about the situation you're referring to, Clara, in case of a hurricane, tornadoes and people who have to be put in shelters.
If there is a specific guideline, Margaret.
Well, one of the advantages we have is of course, we work closely with WMO and we learn a lot about the various threats, but essentially with guidance, it's the same, OK, it's a problem when you're bringing people in.
But again, look at your shelters, can you ventilate them?
Well, what can you do to help people who may have to indeed be close together?
So ensure that you really are very good with hygiene, environmental hygiene, provide the the means for hand hygiene.
So you know, either the hand sanitizers or ensure that you've got good clean running water and soap and all those things are available in your shelters.
If people cannot space, ideally you want them to have the space, but if they cannot, then advise them to wear face coverings.
So all the things that we say about any circumstance where people are close together, all those interventions, all those protections should apply.
Do you want to add something?
Yes, if, if, if, if, if I could.
So Tropical Storm Laura impacted Cuba overnight.
Before Cuba, it also hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
From what we understand, Cuba certainly factored.
COVID preparedness, mask wearing, social distancing into its into its emergency planning.
We saw earlier on this year there were quite strong tropical cyclones hit densely populated parts of India.
And again, you know, the, the additional challenges from COVID from evacuating thousands and thousands of people were factored in.
But obviously you've got the double whammy of any additional burden on the, on the, on the health system, the potential destruction of of health facilities from tropical storms and cyclones coming on top of COVID and the strain on the health system from from the pandemic.
And, you know, it is very, very challenging to to to manage.
But as Margaret said, the health community works really closely with the meteorological community, with the disaster management community.
And and hopefully we're getting we're getting it right.
You know, it's, it's learning as we as we as we go, But you know, we're, we're really making every effort that we can.
This question is both for you and possible and the possibly the representative from the UNHCR who might be there.
I'd like to she, she just left in this very moment.
She's been here until now.
OK, you're, you're on the hotspot then, Margaret, regarding COVID-19 and the Rohingya population.
The International Red Cross Federation came out with the report just recently that one in five refugees now are infected with COVID-19.
I don't know whether you're familiar with that or not or perhaps you can you can elaborate or or or talk about what the current situation is in terms of COVID-19 among the refugees, whether it is increasing, whether you are concerned, perhaps alarmed by it and what sort of protective measures need need to be taken.
I don't know whether they are being taken or not, but anything you have on this would be welcome.
If I let Margaret answer, but we can also bring this question to Shabya.
But they have been speaking quite a lot about that.
But I'll, I'll talk to her about it afterwards.
But Margaret has probably some inputs already.
No, I was just going to say I haven't seen that report.
So I would prefer to refer it to my colleague, but of course there's all the things we say apply and we are always concerned about the situation in refugee camps because you have to particularly make it possible for people to take the actions we know prevent coronavirus.
The hand hygiene, the environmental hygiene, the ability to distance, all very difficult things that we must make every effort to achieve.
Christian Yes, Margaret, one very quick follow up.
Are you aware of reinfection cases that were announced by the Dutch and the Belgium government, one each last night and this morning?
So I really couldn't comment on it.
And I have seen it on my news feed just as we were sitting here.
So I couldn't really comment in any way at this moment.
So I don't see any other requests for the floor.
Thank you, Margaret, for having been with us.
Just two very small, very brief announcements on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is going to hold its nest and last public meeting at 3:30 PM on the 4th of September.
This is for the closure of the session and you'll be able to follow it on web, TV, And the Conference on Disarmament, which third and last part of this year's session runs until the 18th of September, has planned to hold a public meeting next Thursday morning, 27th of August, devoted to the annual report of this year's session.
These were my last announcement.
So thank you very much for having me with us this morning.
Again, Please remember that the press briefing on the 1st September, not Friday, next Tuesday will begin at 11 AM and otherwise, have a nice day.
