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UNICEF Europe & Central Asia Region (ECARO) Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Situation Report No. 5, 22 – 28 April 2020

Attachments

Highlights

  • UNICEF works for children and adolescents in 22 countries and territories1 in Europe and Central Asia Region (ECAR). UNICEF is also present in Italy, supporting refugee and migrant populations.

  • Countries are at different stages in contemplating a gradual lifting of lockdown and quarantine measures. Within ECAR, UNICEF has been supporting planning required to re-establish primary health care services (e.g., routine immunization in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*); nutrition services (e.g., breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan); and WASH in schools and health facilities in (e.g.,
    Armenia and Kazakhstan).

  • During this reporting period, routine immunization programmes received heightened attention as a result of efforts to promote Immunization Week 20 -26 April. A joint statement by UNICEF and WHO was amplified on UNICEF on-line and social media channels in Armenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Uzbekistan (among others), seizing the opportunity to direct public attention to the importance of vaccination as a vital civil responsibility, especially in the face of the crisis caused by COVID19, which currently has no effective vaccine.

  • UNICEF continued to support actions to intensify mass media and social media messaging, connecting millions of families and children to activities and advice on coping and getting along during long periods of lockdown. During the reporting period, UNICEF in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine, Turkey, and Turkmenistan participated in social media campaigns such as #LearningAtHome, #HaveFunAtHome, and #StayAtHome.

  • AI-driven virtual chatbots have been an innovative way to inform adolescents and young people on staying safe, often complementing their engagement via U-Report and other interactive digital platforms. This week, UNICEF in Greece, Moldova and Serbia launched new or improved versions in different languages.

Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs

In ECAR, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan remain the only countries with no government-confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections.

In Turkmenistan, while borders have closed, schools and business have been functioning as usual. In Turkmenistan a first meeting was held 21 April between the Government and UN agencies to discuss the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on the country’s population. In Tajikistan, to ensure readiness in the health, education and social sectors, the Government has leveraged technical support and leadership of UNICEF and other UN agencies for preparedness planning and to build partnerships with international financial institutions (IFIs), donors, and NGOs. Efforts have helped teachers adapt to how they teach and parents to be better informed on how to cope and support children in a lockdown situation.

Ensuring continued delivery of routine immunization programmes has been challenged by the pandemic, with services sometimes having to be rationalized to address the outbreak, or delivery options having had to be reconsidered to adequately protect health workers and individuals receiving vaccinations. In some countries (e.g. Bulgaria), national immunization programs were temporarily suspended, while in others (e.g. Uzbekistan) routine immunization continued at a modified pace.

As countries begin to plan for a gradual return to social and economic life, the resumption of regular services has been key.

Positive steps have been noted in the past week: immunization services have re-started in Bulgaria, plans for restarting have commenced in Kosovo*, and vaccine procurement is underway in Albania. While the prospects for restarting routine health services appear positive, the toll that the pandemic has had on delivery of non-COVID-19 medical supplies should not be underestimated. In Kyrgyzstan for example, severe restrictions imposed on the international movement of supplies, have resulted in near-stock outs of essential medicines for children and for cancer and diabetes patients.

The impacts of school closures as a result of COVID-19 have differed across and within countries. Georgia has announced the cancellation of final exams, while Albania and Azerbaijan are attempting to integrate end-of-year exams into their respective strategies on school re-opening. While schools in Belarus have re-opened, it appears, unofficially, that less than half of enrolled children are attending. In Kazakhstan, school closures did not apply to 2,800 rural multi-grade schools. In countries where classes were suspended, not all participants have been able to adapt easily to learning remotely. In Moldova and Romania, the main issues for both students and teachers have been a lack of IT equipment and lack of internet connection. As well, some teachers did not have skills on how to teach remotely and use digital resources (if these were available). Among students, deprivations are keenest in communities that have inherent vulnerabilities due to poverty, ethnicity, or disability. A UNICEF/IPSOS poll conducted in Montenegro showed that among households with children, 21% do not have laptops and 51% do not have computers or tablets connected to the Internet. Another study revealed that 30% of children in Romania could not access remote learning, and that the inability to adapt to online learning may intensify the risk of dropping out.
To prevent COVID-19 response measures from intensifying disparities already felt by the marginalized children, UNICEF has deployed targeted efforts to ensure adapted learning opportunities reach these boys and girls. Without exception, UNICEF in all ECAR countries, has been supporting education authorities in developing and translating online and broadcast learning materials in minority languages. This week, in Kyrgyzstan, UNICEF supported the production of over 1,000 primary and secondary school lessons for TV with sign language and in Uzbek and Tajik languages. In Greece, UNICEF distributed tablets to seven shelters for unaccompanied children on the mainland and on Samos to ensure they can access education through the UNICEF/Akelius digital language learning platform. In Turkey, UNICEF has helped to mobilize support from within refugee communities (e.g., 12,000 Syrian volunteer education personnel among others) who are targeting parents and caregivers with information on how to help their children access distant learning opportunities. These efforts are helping to ensure that 680,000 Syrian and other refugee children in public schools and temporary education centres, who are among Turkey’s 19 million learners, are able to benefit from uninterrupted distance learning via broadcasting lessons on TV and digital learning.

Some extended lockdowns make it difficult to reach vulnerable communities with health or WASH services, safety awareness, continued learning, or protection. In Bulgaria, a person wishing to move from one location to another requires official authorization, which is granted for a documented reason (e.g., going to a job or a doctor’s appointment). However, systemic discrimination is evident in the situation of Roma families who earn their livelihood in the non-regulated sector (e.g., collecting recyclables in more affluent neighbourhoods) and therefore have no means of obtaining such official authorizations. In some parts of Georgia, restrictions on imported products have jeopardized food supply. In Kazakhstan, migrant families continue to face several deprivations as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns, including loss of incomes, inability to return to the country of origin and social impact on the migrant families.

In closed facilities, whether residential homes or detention centres, communal accommodation makes practising physical distancing very difficult. Following the rapid spread of COVID-19 in an adult prison in Albania, the People’s Advocate (i.e. Ombudsman) called for authorities to seriously considering releasing any children held in detention facilities, particularly pretrial detention, and replacing sentences with alternative measures to the maximum extent possible. In Kazakhstan, UNICEF’s advocacy with the Human Rights Ombudsman and human rights NGOs resulted in a statement to the General Prosecutor’s Office and Ministry of Internal Affairs to oversee and strengthen response measures for children in closed institutions, particularly children affected by migration placed in Centres for the Adaptation of Minors. In Turkey, UNICEF continued to engage with the Directorate of Migration Management, Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS) and Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to advocate for the release of children in detention and ensure adequate care and access to hygiene and health services for children in institutions and closed facilities, including removal centres.

In Greece, lockdown measures have impeded the ability of UNICEF and its partners to reach refugee and migrant children and families with services. As of 26 April, there were 190 confirmed COVID-19 cases (out of a country total of 2,517) within the refugee and migrant population, including eight children. Infections are concentrated in three Open Accommodation Sites, hosting 27,500 refugees and migrants and one IOM-managed hotel, all under quarantine. To ensure national preparedness plans are implemented in all sites, triage spaces are being established and most have space for quarantine. The situation in overcrowded Refugee Identification Centres (RICs) on Aegean islands, home to 35,000 people, including children without parents or family, is dire. As part of the Government’s plans to ease pressure on the islands, a plan is in place to transfer 1,500 people from RICs on Moria and Lesvos to the mainland. In Italy, the Government’s full attention on battling COVID-19 has shifted focus from pressing issues around refugee and migrants. Despite a nation-wide fund-raising campaign spearheaded by the UNICEF National Committee in Italy, the lack of funding for refugee and migrant programmes in Italy has impeded the COVID-19 response for this vulnerable population.

In Kosovo*, the pandemic has been exacerbated by continued political tensions resulting from the collapse of the former coalition government, and there is no united leadership to confront the crisis. The President called the minority party to form a new government, an action perceived by some opponents as unconstitutional. This has fuelled social media calls for nationwide protests on 4 May. In Ukraine’s conflict areas, humanitarian access to non-government-controlled areas (NGCAs) remains difficult. A significant increase in hostilities resulted in civilian casualties and damage to non-military infrastructure (private houses, electrical grids, water facilities, etc.). While COVID-19 humanitarian convoys can enter Donetsk NGCA, access to neighbouring Luhansk NGCA is completely restricted, even by the Russian Federation. A compromise of allowing a pedestrian humanitarian bridge is under discussion.

Lockdowns severely impact lives and livelihood of vulnerable families. Scaling up of existing social assistance, including child benefits for low income families is key for mitigating the socio-economic impact of COVID-19. In Belarus, the Government issued a decree allowing temporary payment of benefits to caregivers of children up to 10 years if the child is a first- or secondtier contact of a COVID-19 patient. UNICEF and the World Bank are working to prepare a socio-economic assessment to support Belarus’s emerging child poverty policy interventions. In Kazakhstan, 4.25 million people have sought Government financial support since the start of the pandemic, with 1.1 million receiving food supplies. In Kosovo*, the EUR 120 cash transfer payment for the most marginalized families does not match rising price of food and other essential goods. A UNICEF-commissioned household survey in Montenegro revealed an 8-percentage point increase in the share of people who have lost the ability to afford food and medicine, with around 60 % of respondents foreseeing their income declining. In Romania, almost 1.2 million people were temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 crisis. Preliminary results of a rapid assessment show that many vulnerable families (e.g., Roma, the poor) do not have enough money to buy basic food items.

Tajikistan is heavily dependent on remittances, which contribute up to 30% to the country’s annual GDP. According to Eurasianet, the pandemic has caused overall remittances from the Russia Federation (where majority of migrants reside and work) to decline by up to 35 percent. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 member countries, including Tajikistan, under the revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT). This intervention intends to provide grants to the poorest member states to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial six-month phase. Countries could then channel their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency, medical, and other relief efforts. In Turkmenistan, so far the social protection measures have been limited to ensuring subsidized prices of basic commodities and subsidized food voucher schemes in sub-regional level. Discussions are underway and suggestions being made by the UN, including UNICEF, on alleviating longer-term socio-economic impacts. International financial institutions will provide the Government of Uzbekistan with at least $1.6 billion in loan funds to support the budget and finance the anti-crisis fund. The World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), UNICEF and other UN agencies have formed a task force to assess the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.