US urges over 150 world leaders not to come to UN over COVID

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States is urging more than 150 countries planning to send their leader or a government minister to New York to speak at the U.N. General Assembly next month to consider giving a video address instead to prevent the annual high-level week from becoming “a super-spreader event.” A note from the U.S. Mission sent to U.N. member nations and obtained Wednesday by AP also called for all other U.N.-hosted meetings and side events to be virtual, saying they “needlessly increase risk.” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. already put in place measures to deal with COVID-19’s delta variant.