-26 MARCH 2020
We are at war with a virus – and not winning it.
It took the world three months to reach 100,000 confirmed cases of infection. The next 100,000 happened in just 12 days. The third took four days. The fourth, just one and a half. This is exponential growth and only the tip of the iceberg. This war needs a war-time plan to fight it.
Solidarity is essential. Among the G-20 – and with the developing world, including countries in conflict. That is why I appealed for a global ceasefire.
We need to concentrate on people, keeping households afloat and businesses solvent, able to protect jobs.
Allow me to highlight three critical areas for concerted G-20 action.
First, to suppress the transmission of COVID-19 as quickly as possible.
That must be our common strategy.
It requires a coordinated G-20 response mechanism guided by WHO.
All countries must be able to combine systematic testing, tracing, quarantining and treatment with restrictions on movement and contact – aiming to suppress transmission of the virus.
And they have to coordinate the exit strategy to keep it suppressed until a vaccine becomes available.
At the same time, we need massive support to increase the response capacity of developing countries.
The United Nations system has a well-established supply chain network, and we stand ready to place it at your disposal.
Second, we must work together to minimise the social and economic impact.
The G-20 came of age in the 2008 financial crisis.
The challenges before us dwarf those of 2008.
And what we face today is not a banking crisis; it is a human crisis.
While the liquidity of the financial system must be assured, our emphasis must be on the human dimension.
We need to concentrate on people, keeping households afloat and businesses solvent, able to protect jobs.
This will require a global response reaching double-digit percentages of the global economy.
I welcome infusions of liquidity and social and economic support in developed countries — with direct transfer of resources to people and businesses.
But a stimulus package to help developing countries with the same objectives also requires a massive investment.
For this, we need greater resources for the International Monetary Fund and other International Financial Institutions, a meaningful emission of Special Drawing Rights, coordinated swaps between central banks and steps to alleviate debt, such as a waiver of interest payments.
I also appeal for the waving of sanctions that can undermine countries’ capacity to respond to the pandemic.
Third, we must work together now to set the stage for a recovery that builds a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable economy, guided by our shared promise — the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Let us do what it takes, urgently and together.
Courtesy of The UN Coronavirus Communications Team
Covid-19 could kill millions in Africa without immediate action: UN chief
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says he fears “millions and millions” of coronavirus cases in Africa, where the youth will not be spared. He called on wealthy countries to help the developing world, for their own sake.
Guterres told RFI that Africa should be the priority of the international community as the continent does not have the resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Ninety percent of the cases are in the G20 countries which hold 80 percent of the global economy. They shouldn’t be working alone, each in their corner, but in a coordinated manner to find treatments and vaccines to put at the world’s disposal,” he said.
Guterres says at least three trillion US dollars, around 10 percent of the world’s GDP, is needed to slow the spread of the coronavirus for vulnerable countries in the Global South.
He backed French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for the international community to make the African continent its top priority.
G20 pledges €4tn to shore up global economy in united front against coronavirus
“This is not a financial crisis like in 2008,” he said.
According to figures published by the African Union, there are 3,924 cases of Covid-19 in Africa and 117 recorded deaths across 46 countries.
“Africa is in urgent need of test kits, masks, ventilators, protective suits for health workers,” said Guterres. “We can still prevent the worst in Africa but without a massive mobilisation we will have millions and millions of people contaminated, which means millions of deaths,” adding that Africa’s booming youth population will not be spared.
Coronavirus mutating
According to Guterres, the risk of the coronavirus mutating is higher given the fast rate at which it is spreading globally.
“As the virus mutates, all the investment we are putting into vaccines will be for nothing because the virus will then travel from the South back to the North. So it is in the interest of countries in the North to help the South,” he told RFI.
He added that the G20 could coordinate aid towards Africa, in terms of health supplies, medical treatments and financial packages.
Culled from www.rfi.fr