World

UN chief says pandemic remains ‘out of control

The secretary-general of the United Nations said that the COVID-19 pandemic remains “out of control” as the world approaches “the grimmest of milestones: 1 million lives lost to the virus.”

Speaking at the opening of the 75th Session of the General Assembly, António Guterres delivered some sobering words about the pandemic that has infected nearly 30 million people worldwide: “the outbreak remains out of control.”

The COVID-19 outbreak is not under control. Soon we’ll pass the grim milestone of 1 million lives lost to the virus.
Overcoming the crisis requires political leadership, unprecedented levels of funding & extraordinary solidarity between and within countries, he said.

Calling the new coronavirus the “number one global security threat in our world today,” the UN chief urged the international community to come together to defeat the virus — and warned that overcoming the unprecedented crisis could be harder that what some might think.

“Many pin their hopes on a vaccine,” Guterres said. “But let’s be clear: there is no panacea in a pandemic. A vaccine alone cannot solve this crisis; certainly not in the near term,” he said.

“We need to massively expand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months.”

Guterres added that for a vaccine to be effective, it must be seen as a global public good, “because COVID-19 respects no borders.”

Any vaccine should be affordable and widely available to all — “a people’s vaccine.”

People across the globe also need to be willing to take it, he said, expressing concerns about the “proliferation of misinformation about a future vaccine.”

“This is fueling vaccine hesitancy and igniting wild conspiracy theories,” he added.