UN staffer in New York tests positive for coronavirus

A UN staff member in New York has tested positive for coronavirus, a top official here has said, stressing that the case will not have a "critical impact" on the work of the organisation due to "strong risk mitigation measures" undertaken at the global body.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters at the daily press briefing on Monday that the staff member, who has tested positive for COVID-19, "is well and has not had any contact with any other UN personnel since before the onset of symptoms".

"... we are part of New York City. New York City is now in a phase of community transmission, and I think UN staff, as we said, are New Yorkers, so... it's to be expected that, eventually, one of our staff would be impacted," Dujarric said.

As of March 16, 463 New York City residents have tested positive for the virus.

Dujarric stressed that "we do not expect this or any other infections amongst UN personnel in New York to have a critical impact on our business because of the very strong risk mitigation measures we've been taking for more than a week now, including reducing greatly our footprint".

He said that the medical director has briefed the Secretary-General on the situation, adding that the "staffer's not been in contact with any UN colleagues".

As part of measures at UN Headquarters to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Guterres has directed that all staff will be required to telecommute unless their physical presence in the workplace is needed to carry out essential services.

The reduced staffing level, in effect from this week till April 12, would be reappraised after three weeks.

Guterres has said that the aim of such a measure is twofold - to reduce the physical presence at the UN headquarters, while continuing to deliver on the mandates.

"It is essential that we reduce social contact to a minimum and follow the clear instructions of the World Health Organization to minimise the risks of transmitting the infection," Guterres has said, adding that the organisation "remains open for business", but "our work will be done from different locations, using different technologies".

The 39-storey UN Secretariat Building houses the Security Council, Trusteeship Council, Economic and Social Council, several UN agencies as well as media offices for foreign reporters.

Dujarric said that the number of people entering the building has fallen since the time measures were put in place to reduce footprint in the wake of the spread of coronavirus in the city.

On March 4, the day before the first measures were put in place, over 11,000 people had entered the building and this fell to 5,393 by March 11.

On Monday, the number stood at 918, including about 300 delegates.

"I don't expect the number to go up to more than maybe 1,500 by the end of the day, because these are in-and-outs".

Last week, the Permanent Mission of the Philippines had informed the UN Medical Services that one of its delegates has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The delegate was last in UN headquarters on March 9 for about 30 minutes around mid-day and visited only one meeting room, which has gone through three cleaning cycles since then.

The delegate did not have contact with UN staff but met two delegates from another mission.