WFP Executive Director tests positive for coronavirus

Executive Director David Beasley of the World Food Program (WFP) has tested positive for coronavirus.

In a statement alerting his colleagues and the world that he has tested positive for the COVID-19 disease, Beasley said despite the diagnosis, he is in good spirits.

“I want you to be among the first to know that in the past few hours I have received confirmation, after testing, that I have the COVID-19 virus,” Beasley wrote on the World Food Program, Insight.

He explained that he had started feeling unwell while on official business in Canada.

“I began feeling unwell this past weekend after returning to my home in the United States from an official visit to Canada and I took an early decision to go into self-quarantine, five days ago.

“So far, my symptoms have been relatively light, and I am in good spirits. I am lucky to be close to my family and I have access to excellent medical support,” the statement read.

Beasley further wrote that his team is now in the process of locating anyone he came into close contact with, and assured that the WFP work will go on uninterrupted, and that he will be working remotely from his home in South Carolina.

“Life must go on and the World Food Programme must continue to do the work that makes all of us so proud as we bring food assistance to the many millions across the world who depend on us for help.”

Beasley, a former governor of South Carolina, has headed the WFP since 2017.