US climate envoy John Kerry tests positive for Covid-19 as UN summit heads into overtime - CNN

CNN  — 

With conscionable hours near to spell to scope an planetary clime agreement, US clime envoy John Kerry has tested affirmative for Covid-19 astatine the United Nations’ COP27 clime acme successful Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, his spokesperson Whitney Smith said.

Smith said successful a connection that Kerry is “experiencing mild symptoms” and self-isolating astatine the summit. As the talks deed a captious stretch, helium is “working with his negotiations squad and overseas counterparts by telephone to guarantee a palmy result of COP27.”

It is atrocious timing for the main US clime negotiator to autumn ill; the last Friday astatine the yearly acme is ever crunch clip for negotiators to scope a woody that astir 200 nations tin hold to. But this twelvemonth the issues are peculiarly thorny – the US represents a large holdout connected the captious contented of a loss and harm fund, which would assistance the world’s processing and astir susceptible countries recover from clime disasters they did small to cause.

Loss and harm is not the lone outstanding issue. World leaders astatine COP27 are besides frantically trying to hash retired a woody that would safeguard the extremity of limiting planetary warming to 1.5 degrees supra pre-industrial levels.

Just hours earlier the Sharm el-Sheikh acme was officially owed to extremity connected Friday – and arsenic the league venue was being dismantled astir negotiators – this year’s COP president Sameh Shoukry said helium was “concerned” by the summit’s deficiency of advancement truthful far.

“I stay acrophobic astatine the fig of outstanding issues including connected finance, mitigation, adaptation, nonaccomplishment and harm and their inter-linkages,” Shoukry told the conference.

“Today, we request to displacement gears again. Time is not connected our side,” helium added.

The Egyptian COP presidency has taken a relaxed attack to Covid-19 astatine the conference. The organizers did not necessitate participants to beryllium vaccinated oregon amusement a antagonistic Covid-19 trial erstwhile registering, though they “strongly recommended” that attendees beryllium up-to-date with their vaccinations earlier arriving.

Masks, too, were wholly optional and uncommon to spot wrong the venue – though the fig of radical wearing them accrued noticeably implicit the past fewer days.

As the fig of radical who tested affirmative grew and the quality of a imaginable outbreak started to spread, much attendees began to disguise up. Still, adjacent connected Friday, arsenic quality of Kerry’s affirmative trial broke, astir radical remained without masks.

The Chinese delegation stood retired by strictly requiring anyone who wanted to measurement ft wrong the country’s pavilion to disguise up and sanitize their hands.