GENEVA – The
Switzerland-based Universal Postal Union says the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing
the United States to suspend delivery of international mail to nearly two dozen
countries. They include the Cayman Islands, Honduras, India, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa and Botswana.
The U.S. Postal Service is asking customers to refrain from sending items to
the affected countries (see list below) as it is unable to currently accept
that mail. The Universal Postal Union, which coordinates mail delivery policies
worldwide, says the U.S. decision is not political.
UPU spokesman David Dadge told VOA if the planes are not flying, you cannot
move the mail. He said this is a problem facing all countries, adding that the
COVID-19 pandemic is preventing postal operators from delivering the mail.
“As a result, they have had to come to the UPU and announce the fact that there
have been suspensions. Nobody is being blamed for it. It is not the fault of
anybody. It is the impact of this pandemic and how it has had an impact across
the world on virtually every aspect of our modern way of life,” he
said.
Dadge said national emergency measures such as lockdowns, social distancing and
quarantining air travelers are making it very difficult to move the mail. He
said the pandemic has caused many countries to reduce their postal staffs, so
the processing of incoming mail becomes problematic.
He said the difficulty in delivering the mail in wealthy countries pales in
comparison to the situation in developing countries where fixed addresses often
do not exist. He said responding to the emergency humanitarian needs of those
countries will be very challenging as the coronavirus pandemic takes root in
those places.
“Obviously, if you are looking to deliver food, you have a supply chain that
probably involves planes. And, planes are at the heart of this problem, as well
as they are at the heart of the postal problem. The fact is you need your
supply chain to deliver the food to the vulnerable people who need it and yet
that chain is broken at the moment because of the cancellations in flights,”
Dadge said.
The Universal Postal Union reports a 10 percent drop in terms of tonnage of
mail delivered worldwide between Jan. 23 and March 23, compared to the same
period last year. It describes the impact of COVID-19 on trade as
calamitous.
Source: Voice of America