Home

UNDT/GVA/2021/018 Order No. 72 (GVA/2021) Page 3 of 17 Applicant that after reviewing his COVID-19 questionnaire, he had been identified as a person with higher risk of developing the severe form of COVID-19. (...) Accordingly, on 9 November 2020, the Applicant formally requested reasonable accommodation due to his multiple medical co-morbidities for COVID- 19. He requested some time to submit the supporting documentation from his physician due to practicalities of the healthcare system in his home country and COVID-19 situation. 15. (...) The Applicant is also eligible for priority consideration for COVID-19 vaccine in his home country given his health conditions.

In order to build back better for a more equal, resilient and sustainable region post COVID-19, the systemic risks emerging from the intersection of multiple natural and biological hazards need to be considered and addressed. (...) Additional countries that have been impacted by both natural disasters and COVID-19 include Afghanistan, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Myanmar, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Viet Nam. (...) ESCAP/77/19 6 B21-00112 Four hotspots of converging natural and biological hazard vulnerabilities Hotspot 1: Flood and drought prone areas/transboundary river basins, COVID-19 and biological hazards Hotspot 2: Ring of Fire/earthquakes, landslides, tsunami and typhoon corridors, COVID-19 and biological hazards South and South-East Asia North and North-East Asia, some of South-East Asia Population exposure: COVID-19 Very high Population exposure: COVID-19 Low Population exposure: vector- borne diseases Very high Population exposure: vector- borne diseases Moderate Population exposure: natural hazard Very high (mostly poor people) Population exposure: natural hazard Very high (mostly poor people) Economic stock exposure: natural hazard High Economic stock exposure: natural hazard High Infrastructure, energy: natural hazard Low Infrastructure, energy: natural hazard Low Infrastructure transport: natural hazard Moderate Infrastructure transport: natural hazard Moderate Infrastructure, information and communications technology: natural hazard Low Infrastructure, information and communications technology: natural hazard Low Hotspot 3: Tropical cyclones, El Niño, earthquakes and landslides, COVID-19 and biological hazards Hotspot 4: Sand and dust storm risk corridors, COVID-19 and biological hazards Pacific small island developing States South and South-West Asia and Central Asia Population exposure: COVID-19 Low Population exposure: COVID-19 Very high in South and South-West Asia and context specific in Central Asia Population exposure: vector- borne diseases Moderate Population exposure: vector- borne diseases Very high Population exposure: natural hazard Very high (mostly poor people) Population exposure: natural hazard High (mostly poor people) Economic stock exposure: natural hazard High Economic stock exposure: natural hazard High Infrastructure, energy: natural hazard High Infrastructure, energy: natural hazard Moderate Infrastructure transport: natural hazard Moderate Infrastructure transport: natural hazard Moderate Infrastructure, information and communications technology: natural hazard Low Infrastructure, information and communications technology: natural hazard Low Source: Adapted from ESCAP, Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2019: The Disaster Riskscape across Asia-Pacific – Pathways for Resilience, Inclusion and Empowerment (United Nations publication, 2019); INFORM Risk Index, available at https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/inform-index/INFORM-Risk; and Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, EM-DAT: The International Disaster Database, available at www.emdat.be/ (both accessed on 11 January 2021).

Owing to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the session could not be held in person in Nairobi, as originally planned. (...) The session consisted of three segments, on the following themes: (a) the state of the world; (b) financing and data for the Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 context; and (c) nature: the impact of coronavirus disease on the “super year” 2020 and beyond. 3. (...) The COVID-19 pandemic had dramatically demonstrated the repercussions of the loss of nature.

When COVID-19 vaccines first received emergency use authorization from the United States of America Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in furtherance of the political agenda, the United States of America Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) falsely claimed that the scientific evidence “suggests natural immunity from COVID-19 may not last very long”.[3] Studies at the time had already shown that nearly all patients who recover from COVID-19 had robust and durable immunity that not only protected against subsequent disease but was also highly effective for preventing reinfection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. (...) In August 2021, the CDC went even further by falsely claiming that the evidence suggested “that people get better protection by being fully vaccinated compared with having had COVID-19.”[8] That disinformation, too, was eventually removed the page, but the CDC continues to push the political agenda by claiming that natural immunity offers only “some” protection against COVID-19.[9] The CDC has thus tried to conceal from the public the fact that studies have confirmed that natural immunity is strong and superior to the immunity induced by COVID-19 vaccines.[10] A study by Israeli researchers, for example, found that fully vaccinated individuals had a thirteen-fold greater risk of infection with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 than individuals who’d recovered from a prior infection. The study also found no significant additional benefit of vaccinating individuals with pre-existing natural immunity.[11] Studies have continued to find natural immunity to be robust, broad, and durable.[12] By contrast, studies have consistently found that the protection offered by COVID-19 vaccines wanes rapidly, which has prompted public health officials in many countries to recommend “booster” doses of COVID-19 vaccines.[13] Natural immunity continues to hold up better also with the Omicron variant, which has numerous mutations in the spike protein that enable it to partially escape circulating antibodies induced by prior infection or vaccination.

The epidemiological impact of the NHS COVID-19 app. Nature, 2021, 594(7863), 408-412. 3 L. (...) Federated learning for predicting clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Nature Medicine, 2021, 27(10), 1735-1743. 20 N. (...) Next-generation vaccine platforms for COVID-19. Nature Materials, 2020, 19(8), 810-812. 25 P.

GE.20-07922(E)  Economic Commission for Europe Conference of European Statisticians Sixty-eighth plenary session Geneva, 22-24 June 2020 Item 9 of the revised provisional agenda Business continuity of official statistics Official statistics and the COVID-19 pandemic – the Albanian case Prepared by Albania Summary Thanks to the advances in technology in the areas of communication, data processing, and emerging new data sources, our ability to respond to natural disasters is at a key point. (...) Given the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, statistical institutes need to review their budget, legal framework, development strategies and human resources capacities to deal with natural disasters. (...) The Covid-19 pandemic caused a new global reality, to which statistical offices must adapt.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the systemic and interlinked nature of risk in a tightly intertwined world, in which a health crisis can disrupt global trade and financial flows. 3 The pandemic has thus created significant new risks for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in particular for the coming two to three years. 5. (...) Global greenhouse gas emissions have decreased as a result of COVID-19, air and water quality has improved, and some regeneration of nature has been witnessed, as highlighted above, although those may be only short-term gains. (...) The zoonotic nature of COVID-19 also highlights the importance of countries reaffirming their commitment to strengthening international cooperation to decrease the global pressure on nature, so as to reduce the likelihood of the emergence of such pandemics and similar global challenges in the future. 44.

.: General 22 June 2020 Original: English V.20-03081 (E) 060720 070720 *2003081* Working Group on the Smuggling of Migrants Vienna, 8 and 9 September 2020 Item 2 of the provisional agenda Impact of natural disasters, conflicts and crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on trends in organized criminal groups and on routes for the smuggling of migrants, as well as good practices to support effective law enforcement cooperation during such crises to detect, investigate and prosecute such cases Impact of natural disasters, conflicts and crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on trends in organized criminal groups and on routes for the smuggling of migrants, as well as good practices to support effective law enforcement cooperation during such crises to detect, investigate and prosecute such cases Background paper prepared by the Secretariat I. (...) See also, inter alia, Gabriella Sanchez and Luigi Achilli, “Stranded: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Irregular Migration and Migrant Smuggling , Policy Brief, No. 2020/20 (Florence, Italy, Migration Policy Centre, 2020); Mixed Migration Centre, “COVID-19 global update #3: impact of COVID-19 on refugees and migrants”, 27 May 2020. 7 General Assembly resolution 73/195, annex. 8 United Nations publication, Sales No. (...) Crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic can also have an impact on the return of migrants.

Sulphur dioxide levels for the months of February, March and April also fell compared 17 Corinne Le Quéré and others, “Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement”, Nature Climate Change, vol. 10, No. 7 (July 2020). 18 Guojun He, Yuhan Pan and Takanao Tanaka, “The short-term impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on urban air pollution in China”, Nature Sustainability (July 2020). (...) Another positive effect of the COVID-19 crisis has been the international spotlight that it has shed on wet markets and the illegal wildlife trade, acting as a call to address the relationship between nature and human health. (...) The Asian Development Bank has estimated that COVID-19 will cost the global economy trillions of dollars.

The food needs of the Arab region are underpinned by regional and global trade and accordingly require a sustainable, well-functioning food system that generates incomes and builds livelihoods while preserving the fast depleting and degrading natural resources. The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures adopted to stem its spread upended the functioning of food markets. (...) Building resilience to rising food insecurity to allow countries and communities to withstand and recover from shocks that affect food security, be they natural (floods, droughts, climate change), human-made (conflicts, social unrest, trade restriction), market-based (market volatility, price hikes) or health-related (COVID-19) has to become an urgent policy objective to allow countries to meet their commitments to the SDGs by 2030. (...) Vulnerabilities limiting the resilience of food security in the region are many, and COVID-19 disruptions are anticipated to add to their pressures, notably those related to rising natural resources scarcity, socioeconomic challenges, import dependency and protracted conflicts.