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Health authorities in Ukraine have reported 206 new laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus, and seven new deaths.
The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus since the outbreak began in the east European country now stands at 1,668, according to the latest data from the Ukrainian government.
The people of Ukraine, together with countless millions across the world, are confronted with a global crisis that is menacing all of humanity: the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the increase in civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine, which have reached their highest level since September 2019, is deeply concerning.
I urge all concerned to heed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s call for a global ceasefire and put aside differences to focus on stopping the spread of the virus. This is a time for solidarity. Urgent, collective action is needed now to address the pandemic and to assist those most vulnerable.
Pope Francis has admitted to moments of selfishness while living in lockdown at the Vatican, and has saluted people on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus, including doctors and shop workers, as “the saints who live next door”, writes Harriet Sherwood.
With characteristic frankness, the pope said he struggled with “self-preoccupation” in a largely solitary existence. “Of course I have my areas of selfishness. On Tuesdays, my confessor comes, and I take care of things there,” he said in an interview published in the Catholic weekly the Tablet. He added:
I’m thinking at this time of the saints who live next door. They are heroes – doctors, volunteers, religious sisters, priests, shop workers – all performing their duty so that society can continue functioning. How many doctors and nurses have died! How many religious sisters have died! All serving … If we become aware of this miracle of the next-door saints, if we can follow their tracks, the miracle will end well, for the good of all.
Related: Pope salutes ‘saints next door’ in fight against coronavirus
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