The United Nations on Tuesday cancelled all in-person meetings for this week after a U.N. member nation reported five cases of COVID-19 among its staff.

Kept apart by a devastating pandemic and dispersed across the globe, world leaders convened electronically Tuesday for an unprecedented high-level meeting.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic not only threatens gains in fighting global poverty and building peace but risks exacerbating existing conflicts and generating new ones.