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UN Chief: COVID-19 Has Released 'Tsunami of Hate, Xenophobia'

By VOA News May 08, 2020

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday that the coronavirus pandemic was continuing to provoke hatred throughout the world and called for a global effort to combat the trend.

"We need every ounce of solidarity to tackle [the pandemic] together," the secretary-general said. "Yet the pandemic continues to unleash a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering."

Guterres said, "Anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets. Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and COVID-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred."

The U.N. leader noted that "migrants and refugees have been vilified as a source of the virus – and then denied access to medical treatment."

Guterres urged political leaders, educational institutions, the media and "civil society" to "act now to strengthen the immunity of our societies against the virus of hate."

Migrant workers in India

In India, authorities in the southern state of Kamataka resumed train service Friday to transport migrant workers home following protests over the plight of stranded workers and reports of deaths among the thousands walking home after losing their jobs during the nation's strict lockdown.

Three migrant trains were scheduled to leave Kamataka two days after authorities canceled services so that work on construction sites could restart, a move condemned as amounting to forced labor.

The resumption of train service coincided with an accident in Kamataka in which a train killed 14 migrant workers who were sleeping on a track before resuming the trek back to their villages.

As the COVID-19 death toll continued to climb in the U.S., research by public health group Well Being Trust indicated that 75,000 more Americans could die from drug or alcohol abuse or suicide because of the pandemic.

As of Friday afternoon EDT, COVID-19 had already killed more than 76,000 people in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University, the most in the world by far. Friday's news that the U.S. jobless rate has soared to its highest level since the Great Depression of the 1920s threatens to hasten "deaths of despair," the group said.

The U.S. was continuing to also lead the world in COVID-19 infections, with 1.27 million, and a member of Vice President Mike Pence's staff was the latest high-profile case, the White House said. The White House announced Thursday that a personal valet to President Donald Trump had tested positive as well.

South Korea urged nightclubs to shut down for a month after linking more than a dozen new coronavirus cases to a clubgoer in Seoul. Schools were scheduled to begin reopening next week, but that may be delayed because 25 new cases were reported Friday, the country's first increase above 10 in five days. Officials said probes into the new cases would determine the next steps.

In Europe, countries observed the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in subdued fashion because of the coronavirus pandemic. Public events were canceled and Europeans were advised to celebrate at home.

Britons were encouraged to have a toast during historic rebroadcasts of Winston Churchill. In France, President Emmanuel Macron oversaw ceremonies without throngs of people.

Projection for Africa

Up to 44 million people in Africa could come down with the coronavirus and 190,000 will die if the virus is not contained, the World Health Organization said.

A new World Health Organization report looked at 47 countries on the African continent. It said that while the rates of transmission in Africa would be slower than they were in other parts of the world during the pandemic's first year, COVID-19 in Africa could "smolder" for a long time in what the report called hot spots.

"COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region," said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Africa regional director. "We need to test, trace, isolate and treat."

If little or nothing is done, Moeti said, the medical capacity across Africa will be "overwhelmed." The doctor said that curbing a large-scale outbreak would be far costlier than the ongoing measures governments are undertaking to contain the spread of the virus.