WHO warns on supply disruptions in coronavirus crisis, seeks more air capacity
The World Health Organization (WHO) appealed for more flight capacity on Tuesday to step up shipments of diagnostic tests and protective equipment to areas where COVID-19 is spreading, especially Latin America.
Paul Molinaro, chief of WHO operations support and logistics, said global vaccine shipments were disrupted in April and if this continued into May there would be gaps in routine immunisations and campaigns against other disease outbreaks.
The U.N.’s World Food Programme has reported the first disruptions in some food supply chains that “could bite deep”, he said.
“We saw the international air transport system on which we are quite dependent for movement of cargo gradually shut down. So we are at the point now where we need to look for solutions to this,” Molinaro told a U.N. virtual news briefing in Geneva.