Council President for the month of April, the Dominican Republic has formally scheduled a closed video-teleconferencing (VTC) "in connection with the impact of COVID-19 on the issues that fall under the Security Council's mandate."

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will hold a closed video-teleconferencing session on Thursday to discuss the COVID19 situation, the first time the world body's top organ is holding a meeting on the raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 88,500 people globally and infected over 1.5 million others.

Council President for the month of April, the Dominican Republic has formally scheduled a closed video-teleconferencing (VTC) "in connection with the impact of COVID-19 on the issues that fall under the Security Council's mandate."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will participate in the session, scheduled on Thursday at 3 pm New York time (12.30 am IST), as a briefer.

Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing that the UN chief has been asked by the Security Council to brief.

"He will basically give a broad update on the impact of the virus on the UN's operations, political operations, peacekeeping, humanitarian."

It remains to be seen whether any press statement by the Council on the COVID-19 situation is issued after the meeting.

Special Envoy from Dominican Republic to UN Ambassador Jose Singer and President of Security Council for April had said that a Council meeting on the coronavirus situation had been requested by five or six ambassadors and the Dominican Republic was working to schedule the discussion.

The Dominican Republic assumed the rotating presidency of the 15-nation Council for the month of April, taking the baton from permanent and veto-welding member China.

When asked by PTI if any resolution on the COVID-19 is expected when the Council meets to discuss the issue, Singer said last week “we have not discussed the issue of a resolution….We are first expecting to hold that meeting, and then we'll see how events play out.”