Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN.
AFP
The world is “at war” against the Covid-19, assured the UN chief on Monday, calling on the international community to go beyond solidarity and enter a “war economy” to stop the virus.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a tsunami of suffering. Over 3.4 million lives have been lost. Some 500 million jobs have been destroyed; trillions of dollars have been taken from corporate balance sheets, ”said Antonio Guterres, at the opening of the annual meeting of members of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The most vulnerable are those who suffer the most, and I fear that this is far from over,” he added.
The UN secretary general called on the world to respond “in a resolute and united manner to stop the virus”, but stressed that this was not enough.
“We are at war with a virus. We need the logic and the urgency of a war economy, to strengthen the capacity of our weapons, ”he noted.
We are at war with a virus. We need the logic and urgency of a war economy, to strengthen the capacity of our weapons
“If we do not act now, we will find ourselves in a situation where rich countries will vaccinate the majority of their populations and open up their economies, while the virus will continue to cause great suffering as it circulates and mutates in the poorest countries. poorer, ”he warned. “Further spikes and surges could claim hundreds of thousands of lives and slow the global economic recovery.”
Guterres said he therefore asked the G20 on Friday to set up a working group bringing together all countries with vaccine production capacities, the WHO and international financial institutions capable of dealing with pharmaceutical companies and ‘other key players.
This working group “should aim to at least double the production capacity by exploring all options, from voluntary licenses and technology transfers to the pooling of patents and the use of flexibilities in intellectual property rights. “, He explained.
The UN chief also asks that this special group also look into the issue of equitable distribution of vaccines at the global level.
“I am ready to mobilize the entire United Nations system to support this effort,” he said.
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