The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said today that the epidemic of the new coronavirus, which began in China, represents a "very dangerous situation" for the world, but that it "has not gotten out of control."
In an interview with AP, Guterres said that "the risks are huge" and that the world should be prepared for it.
He said that his biggest concern is the spread of the virus in areas with less capacity in health services, especially in some African countries. According to him, the World Health Organization is considering how to help in case something like that happens.
Egypt recently reported the first infection, as the first African country where the virus appeared, which increased fears of its spread on the African continent.
The epidemic has infected more than 73.000 people globally. The WHO named the new disease Kovid-19, the name refers to the onset of the disease last year and the coronavirus it caused.
The report, which states that those infected with this virus in most cases have a mild form of the disease, increased optimism among world health officials.
The head of the UN is in Pakistan, where he is attending a conference on 40 years of refugees fleeing from neighboring war-torn Afghanistan.
In an interview with AP, Guterres said that today's world is "chaotic", affected by numerous crises.
He mentioned the horrors of Syria's nine-year civil war.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Loukok has warned that the latest exodus of refugees, close to 900.000 people fleeing fighting in Syria's northwestern Idlib region, risks becoming the biggest humanitarian disaster of the 21st century.
The suffering of Syrians is "terrible," Guterres said. He called for an immediate ceasefire and appealed to Turkey, Russia and Iran to find a political solution.
Referring to the Libyan civil war, Guterres condemned flagrant violations of the arms embargo imposed by the UN on the North African country.
Foreign powers have intervened in the conflict in oil-rich Libya, apparently fighting for control of its resources while supporting rival Libyan leaders in the west and east of the country.
"How many countries are interfering in the conflict in Libya, and regardless of the arms embargo imposed by the Security Council, they are sending personnel and equipment to Libya," Guterres said.
The head of the UN put part of the blame for the state of the world on the three leading powers, the USA, Russia and China, and called their relationship dysfunctional. He said that their relationship was paralyzed by the UN Security Council.
"It is clear that we live in a time when chaos threatens to turn our world into something much more unstable," he said.
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