This article documents the chronology of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020, which originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect. Reporting on this pandemic began in December 2019.
Reactions and measures at the United Nations
1 August
The WHO Emergency Committee expressed “appreciation for WHO and partners’ COVID-19 pandemic response efforts”, while noting that there was no an end in sight to a crisis that had so far infected over 17 million people and resulted in over 650,000 deaths, stressing that the impact would last for decades.
3 August
The World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met to review the current coronavirus pandemic at what Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called “a sobering moment” due to the pandemic's massive direct and ripple effects, with a warning of "no silver bullet".
UNICEF warned that storms and coronavirus posed a ‘double threat’ for children in Central America and Caribbean.
4 August
Secretary-General António Guterres issued recommendations to get children back in the classroom in a new UNESCO policy brief Education During COVID-19 And Beyond: "The Future Of Education Is Here", launched alongside a new global campaign called Save our Future, as the UN estimates 1 billion children were affected by school closures in July.
The UN launched a COVID-19 Response Plan for the Philippines, to provide "critical health interventions and multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance" to those in epidemic hotspots in its largest country response since 2013, the UN response to Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.
5 August
The World Health Organization reported that a new “surge team” of leading UN health experts was traveling to South Africa to help with the COVID-19 response there, as the country was now among the top five of the world's most affected countries.
6 August
Addressing the Aspen Security Forum, consisting of top-level present and former United States government officials, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), appealed to countries to unite against the disease, stressing that there were more than 18.5 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide and 700,000 deaths.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and governments announced that a flight carrying "protective masks, ventilators and other essential medical supplies for COVID-19 response" had landed in Papua New Guinea, commencing a humanitarian air service for the Pacific region.
7 August
As the Americas remained the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and on the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights affirmed "the need to ensure the world’s indigenous people have control over their own communities", given the "critical threat" of COVID-19 to indigenous peoples.
Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts, part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, again called on countries to ease or lift sanctions to allow affected countries and communities "like Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen" access vital supplies in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
10 August
The International Organization for Migration and International Chamber of Commerce released new employer guidance for measures to protect migrant workers.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) pointed to 'green shoots of hope' in the pandemic, while stressing two main WHO recommendations, that “leaders must step up to take action and citizens need to embrace new measures”.
12 August
Secretary-General António Guterres briefed the UN Security Council on sustainable peace and the progress of the global ceasefire, warning that COVID-19 threatened hard-won development and peacebuilding gains and “risks exacerbating conflicts or fomenting new ones”.
13 August
The Director-General of the World Health Organization stated that the agency's main mission was now "focused on shepherding global vaccine candidates through the necessary trials", then "guaranteeing rapid, fair and equitable access" to vaccines for every country.
15 August
A UN-coordinated televised and digitally streamed concert, Pacific Unite: Saving Lives Together, appealed for regional leaders and citizens of the Pacific to unite as part of the global battle against COVID-19.