Men's Fashion Week, Haute Couture Week Cancelled In Paris, Milan Event Postponed Due To Coronavirus

Two of the main events in the fashion calendar, the Paris Fashion Week and the Haute Couture week, due to take place in June and July, have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers said on Friday. "Strong decisions are required to ensure the safety and health of Houses, their employees and everyone working in our industry," the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) said in a statement. "The board of directors... has come to the decision that, in the present conditions, the Paris Fashion Week Menswear, scheduled from June 23rd to June 28th, 2020, and the Haute Couture Week scheduled from July 5 to July 9, 2020, cannot take place," it said. Meanwhile, the crisis is worsening with every passing hour with the WHO warning over shortage of masks. (Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE)

A dire lack of protective gear for health workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most pressing threats in the fight to prevent deaths, the World Health Organization warned Friday. "The chronic global shortage of personal protective equipment is now one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.

He said the WHO had shipped almost two million individual items of personal protective equipment (PPE) to 74 countries and was preparing to send a similar amount to a further 60 countries. "This problem can only be solved with international cooperation and solidarity," said Tedros. He said he had urged the G20 countries to use their "industrial might and innovation" to produce and distribute the tools needed to save more lives.

"We must also make a promise to future generations, saying: 'never again'," Tedros added. The new coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 25,000 people, with Europe accounting for most of the deaths, according to an AFP tally based on official statistics. Around 550,000 cases have been registered around the world since the outbreak began in China in December. Tedros said that more than 100,000 people had now had the virus and recovered. He added: "We're only at the beginning of this fight. We need to stay calm, stay united and work together.