Qatar has yet again affirmed its commitment to support the work of the United Nations and the importance of international cooperation to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis caused by the spread of coronavirus disease has been an utmost concern throughout the world.
In a virtual meeting by UN Security Council on “Pandemics and the Challenges of Sustaining Peace”, Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations H E Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani praised the steps and preventive measures taken by Qatar to combat the crisis. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Qatar took effective and precautionary measures and the harnessed all resources to enhance healthcare in the country and adopted other steps to reduce the effects of the disease, such as developing distance learning methods for students amid school closure. This proved to be a huge success.
A study issued by the World Health Organization and UNICEF revealed that the pandemic has created the largest disruption to education ever recorded, affecting nearly 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries, according to UN data. The study reported that nearly 820 million children worldwide do not have basic necessities at school, putting them at increased risk of COVID-19 and other transmittable diseases.
The study stressed that governments seeking to control coronavirus spread must balance the need for implementing public health measures against the social and economic impacts of lockdown measures.
H E Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the UN said that the COVID-19 crisis is a burden on countries and societies affected by conflicts, countries in transition and post-conflict countries, referring to the fragility of these countries’ economies, the deterioration of their health systems, humanitarian crises, and the social, security and logistical challenges that complicate and hinder preventive and remedial measures to confront the virus and its effects.
H E Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani stressed that the coronavirus is a global threat, stressing the importance of a joint international effort to address this pandemic. Attention must be given to the important role of the United Nations, its agencies and programs in coordinating efforts to address the spread of the virus and the effects it causes on the sustainability of peace and development.
In the light of these exceptional circumstances, H E Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the UN said what everyone needs is the necessity to harness all efforts and energies to confront the coronavirus and other global threats to security, peace and stability for all without discrimination.
