UN says 86 staffers around world reported cases

The United Nations says 86 staff members around the world have reported cases of COVID-19.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said most of the infected staff members are in Europe, but there are also staffers in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the United States that have the coronavirus.

To try to reduce transmission, he said the vast majority of U.N. staffers are working from home.

At UN headquarters in New York, where a normal day would see staffers' passes swiped 11,000 times, the number of swipes Friday morning stood at 140, Dujarric said.

In Geneva, he said, the number of staff at the UN office has dropped from around 4,000 people on a regular day to just about 70 on Thursday.

In Vienna, more than 97 per cent of UN staff are now working remotely, he said. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 99 per cent of staff are working from home.