“Send more money” was the blunt plea Friday from the Group of 20 (G20) wealthy countries seeking extra funds for an emergency committee headed by the World Bank and World Health Organization (W.H.O.) to combat the global Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Saudi G20 President Fahad Almubarak said in a press statement only $1.9 billion of the $8 billion target set by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board has been raised, calling on all countries, philanthropic institutions and individuals to donate to the financial effort.
Saudi Arabia is this year’s chair of the G20, and the main summit of world leaders is scheduled to be held in Riyadh in November.
“Global challenges demand global solutions and this is our time to stand and support the race for a vaccine and other therapeutic measures to combat COVID-19,” Almubarak said. “We commend the existing funding efforts from around the world and underscore the urgency to bridging the financing gap.”
Co-convened by the World Bank and the World Health Organization, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board called for $8 billion in March to fund countries with weak health systems, the W.H.O. to coordinate worldwide efforts and the development of new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to cure COVID-19.
That plea for funding follows another made back in February by the W.H.O. which asked then for a special, one-off flow of $675 million to help it fight the coronavirus, as Breitbart News reported.
To fight further spread of the #2019nCoV outbreak in #China & globally & protect vulnerable states with weak health systems, the intl community has launched a US$675 million preparedness & response plan covering the months of February through April 2020 https://t.co/OR6d4nVfBP pic.twitter.com/JMeqvfRyTz
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 5, 2020
For all that financial support, the efforts of special U.N.-sanctioned global committees still appears to be fighting a losing battle, with little if anything to show for their efforts.
As of Friday the Chinese coronavirus death toll stood neard 200,000 and the number of infected exceeded 2.7 million, according to a live tracker of the virus by Johns Hopkins University.
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