Despite the immediate closure of all nightclubs following a spike in coronavirus cases linked to the establishments, Didier Pittet, head of infection prevention at Geneva’s University Hospital, said the situation was under control.

As worldwide shortages of protective equipment persist for health-care staff caring for COVID-19 patients and others returning to work, calls continue for governments to do more to increase supplies to preserve the health of workers. One of those appeals comes from chemist and environmental attorney Baskut Tuncak, who works on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

After welcoming nearly 900,000 Venezuelan migrants fleeing political and economic strife in recent years, Peru is now experiencing a migrant crisis of its own. Some 200,000 Peruvians have been trying to return to their original homes from Lima, since strict lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 cut them off from their jobs.

Gaps in dead body management have been left badly exposed by COVID-19: bodies left outside homes for days before being collected; family members picking through piles of decomposing corpses outside hospitals to try to identify loved ones; mass, unmarked graves dug for the poor and the homeless.

Indigenous leaders are warning that a combination of neglect, inadequate preparations, and a lack of lockdown measures is exposing remote and vulnerable communities in the Amazon to potentially devastating outbreaks of COVID-19

Aid groups worry that Guatemala, long one of Latin America’s most unequal countries, will be hit hard by the effects of COVID-19, piling further hardship on a population already suffering extreme poverty, violence, and years of climate change-driven drought.

Several Swiss companies and banks have found themselves in the line of fire as the United States ramps up pressure on the Venezuelan government. Washington has sanctioned numerous top officials for money laundering and drug trafficking in the oil-rich but economically flailing Latin American nation.

A team of researchers at the University of Bern is hoping to be the first to produce a vaccine against Covid-19 and inoculate the entire Swiss population in October. “We have a realistic chance of being successful,” said Martin Bachmann, head of immunology at the Swiss university via a web conference with ACANU, the United Nations press association. “Switzerland has a history of being pragmatic and is more interested in finding a compromise to get the vaccine faster.”

With classrooms in 195 countries now emptied to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, school meals programmes are on hold, too. And that is raising concerns that millions of children who depend on school meals will become increasingly susceptible to malnourishment and other health risks.

With borders now closing around the world and health services coming under huge strain as COVID-19 spreads, the humanitarian sector is scrambling to adapt to new challenges while continuing to provide assistance in ongoing emergencies and disasters.

Climate-linked disasters are unleashing greater levels of damage, but billions of dollars in climate change commitments may be eating into regular aid budgets that poorer countries rely on, campaigners say.

The central market was bustling in Puerto Maldonado, in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon. On one end of the market, diners sat on plastic stools shaded from the oppressive noon heat as food was prepared at the many open-air stands. Vegetables, fruit, and piles of locally harvested Brazil nuts were displayed nearby. Toddlers played on the ground in front of their parents’ booths.

In February 2019, a tense standoff over US humanitarian aid for Venezuelans led to accusations of a foreign invasion and rival pop concerts at opposite ends of the bridge connecting Venezuela to the Colombian border town of Cúcuta. A year on, much has changed, but not the politicisation of aid within Venezuela.

A year after the United States attempted to deliver truckloads of aid to relieve the humanitarian situation in Venezuela, prompting warnings of the politicization of aid, Washington is renewing its support to the country’s embattled opposition.

With gold prices the highest they have been in nearly a decade, the quest for the precious metal is heating up in a remote area of Peru where mining and criminal activities overlap. Switzerland, the world's hub for gold refining, is watching closely.

Throughout Latin America, pollution from transport and machinery has been adding to greenhouse gas emissions while causing growing health issues. A Swiss programme based on technology developed for trans-Alpine tunnels has helped Chile become a leader in addressing vehicle smog.

Madrid, Spain - Some of them have not been home for nearly three months. Representing indigenous communities from across the Amazon rainforest, several dozen activists arrived in Europe in October to attend a Vatican synod on the environmental crisis in their region.

Empowered by having put climate issues at the centre of recent parliamentary elections in Switzerland, youth leaders who travelled to Madrid to attend the United Nations climate talks say they are frustrated – and tired – following discussions by negotiators.

The battle over new funding for disaster damages continues to be divisive as diplomats finished a gruelling final week of negotiations at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid.