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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has worn a mask in public for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The president was visiting the Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington, where he met wounded soldiers and health care workers.

“I’ve never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place,” he said as he left the White House.

He has previously said that he would not wear a mask and mocked Democratic rival Joe Biden for doing so.

But on Saturday he said: “I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”

BETHESDA, Md: President Donald Trump, who has avoided wearing a mask in public even as the coronavirus pandemic spread, donned one on Saturday at a military medical facility outside Washington where he was to meet with wounded soldiers and front-line health-care workers.

The visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center marked Trump’s first public appearance with a face covering since the virus began sweeping across the United States earlier this year.

Trump had previously refused to wear a mask in public or ask other Americans to do so, saying it was a personal choice, although he had said he would if he was in a crowd and could not maintain distance from others. “I think when you are in a hospital, especially in that particular setting when you are talking to a lot of soldiers, people that in some cases just got off the operating table, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask,” Trump told reporters at the White House just before his visit to Walter Reed.

At the medical facility, Trump walked by media gathered for a carefully staged photo opportunity wearing a navy blue mask emblazoned with a presidential seal embossed in gold. He said only “thank you” as he passed.

Top public health officials have urged the use of masks to slow the spread of the virus, which by Friday had claimed nearly 134,000 American lives. Critics say Trump’s refusal to wear one showed a lack of leadership.

Even as other officials in his administration called for the use of masks and social distancing, Trump, who faces re-election in November, pressured states to reopen closed economies.

But since many states relaxed coronavirus restrictions, the virus has found a new toehold. New U.S. cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, rose by more than 69,000 on Friday, a third straight daily record.

As of Friday, the number of confirmed U.S. infections topped 3 million.

A spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Trump had spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask.

“Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other,” said the spokesman, Andrew Bates.

On July 8, 2020, Geneva hosted ILO Virtual Global Summit on COVID-19 and the World of Work, Uzbekistan MFA reports. According to the Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan in Geneva, the summit was attended by over 80 heads of state and government, international organizations, including the UN, WTO, WHO, World Bank, IMF.

Participants presented information on measures taken to overcome the negative consequences of the pandemic at the national, regional and international levels.At the invitation of the ILO Director-General, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed the Virtual Global Summit.

In his welcoming remarks, the President of Uzbekistan emphasized that since the beginning of this year, the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic has become the most important issue on the global agenda. There is no country or region that would not directly or indirectly experience the negative effects of the spread of coronavirus infection.Certainly, to effectively overcome this and other global challenges, first of all, coordinated actions are needed. And the current ILO Global Summit is a good platform for coordination of efforts.

In a pandemic, social support is vital along with ensuring the sustainability of the economy. This is fully in line with the task of ensuring social justice, as enshrined in the ILO Centenary Declaration.It was emphasized that the implementation of the ILO conventions in the national legislation and practice, in particular, the ratification of the C144 Convention on Tripartite Consultation, gave a powerful impetus to development of tripartite social dialogue in Uzbekistan.

In accordance with the principle of tripartism plus, business, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, civil society institutions and the public actively participate in the process of developing anti-crisis measures during the pandemic. This is a guarantee of the successful implementation of anti-crisis programs, protecting the interests of all segments of the population.The President of Uzbekistan noted that the pandemic has identified a number of problems in development of sustainable international relations and the absence of a global strategic plan of action in such emergency situations.In this regard, Shavkat Mirziyoyev forwarded the initiative to adopt, under the auspices of the UN, the International Code of Voluntary Obligations of States during pandemics.As the President of Uzbekistan noted, the minimum conditions and obligations of states, both to their citizens and to international partners, in the political, social, economic, humanitarian, human rights spheres, should be fixed in this code.First, restrictive measures should be exclusively temporary, with mandatory guarantees of observance of the rights and freedoms of citizens.Such measures should be proportional to risks, not to impede international trade, especially medical products, as well as measures to support socially vulnerable segments of the population.Second, the rapid spread of the pandemic has shown the need for systemic, timely and effective preventive measures, including in order to prevent overloading health services if it occurs.These are, first of all, measures for forecasting, deterring in the early stages of spread, counteracting the epidemic and minimizing its consequences.Third, the pandemic affirmed the importance of ensuring labor safety. This directly applies to health workers who have shown real heroism, being at the forefront of the fight against a new disease.It should be noted that today relations between Uzbekistan and the ILO continue to develop dynamically and consistently. The roadmap is being successfully implemented, adopted following the visit of the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder to Uzbekistan in 2018.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) chaired by Azerbaijan has held its first online meeting on combating the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Ministry reported on July 10.

NAM working group on COVID-19 was established upon Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s initiative on May 4.

During the online meeting held on July 9, the representatives of WHO expressed gratitude for Azerbaijan’s international efforts in fight against COVID-19, including permanent support to the activity of WHO, and expressed support to the activity of the Working Group established upon Aliyev’s initiative.

Moreover, the WHO representatives noted that based on relevant information provided by Azerbaijan, WHO has started to provide assistance to NAM member states.

Furthermore, NAM member states participating in the meeting thanked Azerbaijan for its intensive activity in the field of fight against COVID-19 as chairman of the organization and informed about the work done in their countries in the field of fight against pandemic.

In the course of the online meeting, the Azerbaijani delegation informed the participants of the work done for the past period on formation of the group and preparation of a single information database.

Additionally, regular steps related to the activity of the Working Group were planned at the end of the meeting.

The meeting was attended by representatives of many NAM member states, as well as Michelle Boccoz, Director-General of Multilateral Affairs of the World Health Organization and Paul Molinaro, Head of Operations and Supply Division of the organization.

Working Group was established on the initiative of the Chairman-in-Office of the Non-Aligned Movement, President Ilham Aliyev on May 4, 2020 during the summit meeting in the format of videoconference on combating the pandemic COVID-19 of the Contact Group of the Non-Aligned Movement. The group is tasked to create a single information database reflecting the medical, social and humanitarian needs of the Non-Aligned Movement countries.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has also initiated holding a session of the UN General Assembly dedicated to fight against COVID-19. The session was held on July 10. Moreover, Azerbaijan has donated $10 million to the World Health Organization and provided humanitarian and financial aid to over 30 countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Azerbaijan will continue bringing back citizens from abroad next week, Assistant to Azerbaijan’s President, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said.

Hajiyev made the remark at the briefing of the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan.

“Some 250 Azerbaijani citizens who are on the border area between Azerbaijan and Russia, as well as the Azerbaijani citizens from Iran, Turkey and other countries are planned to be brought back to the homeland,” the assistant to Azerbaijan’s president said.

“Approximately 200 of our compatriots will be brought to Azerbaijan from Georgia,” Hajiyev added.

“The Azerbaijani citizens will be brought back from Budapest to Baku this week, mainly the students studying in Hungary,” Hajiyev said. “Moreover, it is planned to return the Azerbaijani citizens from Tashkent, Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Doha to Baku via the flights.”