In Iran, where at least 1,800 people have died from COVID-19, human rights reports have repeatedly emphasized the impact of sectoral sanctions on access to essential medicines and medical equipment – including respirators and protective equipment for health-care workers
Azi Lhundup (Azhen Nengzhou) was found dead March 15 in a waiting room at the Sichuan provice Hongyan No.1 Police Station, where he was an official, according to Chinese state media
Kyrgyzstan declared a state of emergency in its cities and some regions, aiming to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures, which take effect on March 25..The Serbian Army began preparing 3000 beds for people diagnosed with coronavirus
A village in northwestern Pakistan is under lockdown after a 50-year-old man became the first recorded coronavirus-related fatality in the country. Saadat Khan, who had an underlying heart condition, returned ill from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Coronavirus cases in Pakistan have soared to over 900 and there have now been seven recorded deaths
Several civil society organisations have today expressed concern over the arrest of at least 15 of their members and the detention and prosecution of seven of them. These events are taking place in the context of an increasingly deteriorating climate for civil society in Niger where several serious violations of fundamental freedoms have been recorded in recent weeks
Particularly worrying is the situation of the overcrowded Congolese prisons, defined as “real places of daily death due to famine and lack of medical treatment. Prisoners survive only thanks to volunteers and food supplies from their families; given that, due to Covid-19, visits are no longer allowed in prisons, the NDSCI fears a massacre of prisoners in the very near future”
Health experts say Nigeria isn’t likely to meet the United Nations’ 2030 tuberculosis eradication target, as the nation still accounts for the highest fatality rate from the disease in Africa. Officials say they’re trying to address major factors like inadequate awareness and funding by offering free screening and treatment
Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is at around 85 percent, say independent economists. Thirty-five year old Farai Chitengwa told VOA via WhatsApp that for the past last 10 years on a good month he gets between $700 and $800 from soccer betting. It is his only source of income
This week, thousands of U.S. schools closed as officials sought to contain the new coronavirus. But the move presents new challenges for families who rely on the schools’ free meals and who don’t have the technology needed for their children to study at home
Responding to questions, Guterres said it was true that the COVID-19 crisis is diverting attention from many other issues. He said the world needed to be able to respond to the crisis while also addressing other major concerns