UN Security Council meets via videoconference due to coronavirus crisis

The UN Security Council met for the first time in its history via videoconference last night due to the coronavirus crisis. However, the diplomats said the meeting was not without technical difficulties.

One diplomat said that the meeting was meant to serve as a test run and thus was not listed on any official agenda. The meeting saw informal talks on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The ambassadors and deputies all logged in from home, and the media had no



access.

The meeting was interrupted several times when internet connections went down, or when some participants lost power.

The meeting was held in English, as technical difficulties made it impossible to provide simultaneous translation into the world body's other official languages.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has not shuttered the organization's headquarters in New York, but the city itself is under a stay-at-home order issued by the state's governor.