UN chief urges national leaders to wage multinational 'war' on coronavirus

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on leaders of countries to launch a concerted and multinational “war” on coronavirus, saying the disease is unprecedented in its reach and that individual countries working alone “will not address the global scale and complexity of the crisis.”

Guterres spoke to UN correspondents in his first “virtual” news conference, with journalists participating through a videolink from remote locations because UN officials have shuttered in-person news conferences in light of the evolving coronavirus crisis.

The decision comes after UN officials last week closed their Manhattan campus to the public and required the vast majority of staffers to work remotely. On Wednesday, UN officials announced that an accredited correspondent had tested positive for coronavirus.

“This is, above all, a human crisis that calls for solidarity,” Guterres said. “ . . . This is a moment that demands coordinated, decisive, and innovative policy action from the world’s leading economies. We must recognize that the poorest and most vulnerable — especially women — will be the hardest hit.”

His bellicose words echo those of President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday said “it’s a war” when referring to the nation’s fight against coronavirus.

It also mirrors the global plea by the World Health Organization and UN in 2014 for a concerted response to the Ebola virus outbreak, which ravaged several countries in West Africa.

Guterres on Thursday urged leaders of the 20 wealthiest nations, who are poised to meet at a “virtual” global summit on coronavirus next week, to pitch in and attack coronavirus on three fronts: the immediate health care crisis, the social impact and economy, and the recovery. The summit is being convened by Saudi Arabia, which serves as president of the G-20 nations.

“Health spending must be scaled up right away to meet urgent needs and the surge in demand — expanding testing, bolstering facilities, supporting health care workers, and ensuring adequate supplies — with full respect for human rights and without stigma,” Guterres said. “It has been proven the virus can be contained.”

He added that the economic impact of the virus is not like that of the financial crisis of 2008, when powerful global institutions got the lion’s share of bailout funds. He said the UN's International Labour Organization estimates that workers around the world could lose $3.4 trillion in income by the end of this year.

“Injecting capital in the financial sector alone is not the answer,” he said. “ . . . Let’s not forget this is essentially a human crisis. Most fundamentally, we need to focus on people — low-wage workers, small and medium enterprises and the most vulnerable. And that means wage support, insurance, social protection, preventing bankruptcies and job loss.”

Lastly, Guterres said that lessons learned through the recovery efforts should help build a system that leaps into action in the event of a future crisis.

“The 2008 financial crisis demonstrated clearly that countries with robust social protection systems suffered the least and recovered most quickly from its impact,” he said.