Two United Nations Peacekeepers Die Of COVID-19 (Read Details)

Two UN peacekeepers in Mali have died from the coronavirus, officials said Friday.

Out of the some 100,000 UN troops deployed on about 15 different missions around the world, these two are the first whose deaths were directly linked to the pandemic.

“Unfortunately, I also want to say that yesterday and today two of our military colleagues have passed away due to COVID-19,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, during a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York to honor the peacekeepers killed in conflict.

One was from Cambodia and the other from El Salvador, “both members of MINUSMA,” the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, Guterres said.