Martin Griffiths, the top humanitarian chief at the United Nations, said he had a positive test for the coronavirus on Monday as he was visiting the U.N. headquarters in New York from a recent trip to Afghanistan, Russia and Ukraine.
Mr. Griffiths met with the U.N. secretary general Ant nio Guterres on Monday, but everyone in the room was wearing masks and social distancing was observed, according to St phane Dujarric, secretary general spokesman.
Dujarric said that all meetings with Mr. Guterres, who is 72, follow strict masking and distancing protocols, and members of his staff are routinely tested. Mr. Dujarric said that the U.N. headquarters no longer enforces masking and testing to enter the building.
Griffiths appeared unmasked at a Monday briefing with reporters, and several reporters in attendance were not masked. Journalists at the U.N. s daily briefings are often asked to take off their masks when they ask questions, a request that could expose them to the virus if someone in the room happens to have the virus but is asymptomatic.