The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, affirmed on Tuesday that the coronavirus is the “most difficult” crisis that the world has faced since the Second World War, while launching a plan to counter the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
“On the one hand, it is a disease that represents a threat to everyone in the world and, on the other, it has an economic impact that will bring a recession without parallel probably in the recent past,” Guterres said during a virtual press conference with the United Nations. .
Thus, “the combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to greater instability, greater discontent and greater conflict are things that make us believe that this is, in effect, the most difficult crisis we have ever faced. faced since the Second World War ”, he remarked.
Guterres who, in his opinion, the Covid-19 crisis “needs a stronger and more effective response that is only possible in solidarity, if all unite and forget about political games and understand that humanity is at stake”.
Likewise, the UN Secretary General insisted that the response to the coronavirus must be “decisive, innovative and joint”, as well as “large-scale, coordinated and comprehensive.” And he said that it is necessary to show “solidarity” with the communities and the “most vulnerable” countries before the advance of Covid-19.
“This human crisis demands decisive, inclusive and innovative political action by the world’s strongest economies, and maximum financial and technical support for the most vulnerable people and countries,” he said.
As for the document released by the United Nations, it describes the speed and escalation of the spread of the coronavirus, the severity of the cases, and the economic and social disruption that the pandemic brings.
In this context, Guterres referred to the health response to Covid-19 and called for a “coordinated” response to suppress transmission and end the pandemic..
The response has to “increase sanitation capacity for testing, surveillance, quarantine and treatment, while keeping workers safe, combined with measures to restrict movement and contact.”
Guterres recalled that the disease “spreads like a forest fire in the south with millions of deaths”, while referring to the possibility that “the disease will reappear where it was previously suppressed”. “Let’s remember that we are only as strong as the weakest healthcare system in our interconnected world,” he stressed.
As for the people most vulnerable to the advance of Covid-19, Guterres urged to focus on them by designing policies that, among other issues, support the provision of health and unemployment insurance, in addition to social protections, while that companies are strengthened to avoid bankruptcies and job losses.
According to the UN Secretary General, debt relief should also be a “priority”, noting that the agency has established a new Covid-19 Multi-Partner Trust and Response Trust Fund to respond to the emergency and recover from economic shock.
“When we overcome this crisis, which we will do, we will face another option,” said Guterres. “We can return to the world as it was before or decisively confront those problems that make us unnecessarily vulnerable to crises,” he said.
With information from Europa Press
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