Leading World Health Organization (WHO) officials have urged the world's population to combat the stigma associated with the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and to also ensure that no member of society is left behind, during a daily press briefing on Friday, amid media reports of increased xenophobic attacks against people of East Asian ethnicity since the start of the global pandemic
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2020) Leading World Health Organization (WHO) officials have urged the world's population to combat the stigma associated with the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and to also ensure that no member of society is left behind, during a daily press briefing on Friday, amid media reports of increased xenophobic attacks against people of East Asian ethnicity since the start of the global pandemic.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, stated that the increase of stigma and xenophobia related to the COVID-19 outbreak was intolerable.
"We need to all stand up to stigma. We need to stand up to people who are pointing out that someone may be at fault for being from a certain country. This absolutely should not be tolerated in any form," she stated.
These sentiments were echoed by Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, who added that countries must take steps to provide health care for the most vulnerable members of society.
"There's another word that goes with stigma, and that is exclusion ... We've been speaking very much about those who are vulnerable in our societies, and that vulnerability is very important to deal with. But when we speak about that vulnerability we cannot forget migrants, we cannot forget undocumented workers, we cannot forget prisoners in prisons. They may be serving sentences but they deserve no less protection under the law than others," he remarked.
Media outlets across the globe have reported an increase in xenophobic incidents against people of East Asian ethnicity in recent weeks. On March 6, the BBC broadcaster spoke with Jonathan Mok, a Singaporean student who was physically assaulted in London in late February. The attacker allegedly associated Mok's ethnicity with COVID-19.
