MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – UN envot to Somalia said Somali government put efforts in combating Coronavirus in the Horn of Africa nation.
Somalia had recorded the first case of the pandemic mid March this year.
Addressing UN security council, James Swan, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia focused on confronting the COVID-19 pandemic and minimise its impact.
“The pandemic is having “a severely negative economic impact” in the country, with the government projecting an 11 percent decline in gross domestic product this year,” he said.
Swan said that the United Nations is working to reinforce the government’s response. UN agencies, funds and programs have reoriented their activities to give priority to the pandemic.
The envoy said that even before the virus, more than 5 million Somalis were already in need of humanitarian assistance, adding that “2.6 million people in the country are internally displaced, and 1 million are now being impacted by flooding.”
“The country is also dealing with the worst desert locust infestation in 25 years,” he said.
Discussion about this post