Even though indoor masks are made compulsory, almost no masks are worn at the general meeting place on the first day
It was difficult to find delegations from each country wearing masks at the General Assembly of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, where the general discussion of the UN General Assembly was held on the 20th (local time).
Considering that the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) situation is not over yet, the UN’s health guidelines say that masks must be worn indoors, but the delegations of each country who are accustomed to the ‘no mask’ seemed to be cumbersome.
In principle, masks were only allowed to be removed when speaking or eating food, but most attendees listened to the speeches of the heads of state in the audience with their bare faces.
A fight broke out between delegations from different countries and UN security personnel as they entered the UN headquarters building without a mask from the beginning before the meeting began, the New York Times (NYT) reported.
There was also a scene where the security guards tried to stop the ‘no mask’ delegation who had already climbed the escalator going up to the general meeting place.
In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak, the general discussion of the UN General Assembly, which was held virtually via videoconference, was held last year in a hybrid method that allowed both face-to-face and video speech, but this year it returned to a completely offline event for the first time in three years.
With the exception of Ukraine, which is being invaded by Russia, nearly 150 top-level officials from around the world visited New York because they must come to the UN headquarters to give a face-to-face speech. sent personnel.
Although it is almost normalized before the pandemic (a global pandemic of an infectious disease), you can still see the scars of Corona 19 that remain.
A typical example is that the luncheon hosted by the UN Secretary-General by inviting the heads of state was not held this year due to health issues.
For the same reason, the number of delegations that can enter the UN headquarters is limited to 10, and the number of delegations that can enter the General Assembly is limited to six.
Dozens of various diplomatic side events are held both inside and outside the UN headquarters during ‘High-Level Week’, where general discussions are usually held, but this year, the official events held at the UN headquarters are limited to single digits.
The UN’s still strict attitude on health issues seems to stem from fears that the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, which draws thousands of people from all over the world, including its escorts, may become a ‘super spread’ event for COVID-19, the New York Times analyzed.
/yunhap news
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