United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has extended the telecommuting arrangements at the world body’s headquarters through June 30 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He said the situation will continue to be reviewed to decide on a phasewise reopening of the premises.

The UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold elections for five non-permanent Security Council seats on June 17 but the 193-body is now looking at options on how to conduct the elections without having diplomats and envoys of all member states present in the UN General Assembly hall for the secret ballot.

Globally, the death toll due to COVID-19 has gone up to 287,158 with over four million infections reported so far. The US is the worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University tally.