World has failed to handle Covid, says UN Chief

As the United States continues to blame China for unleashing Covid-19 plague onto the rest of the world, UN chief Antonio Guterres told the United Nations Security Council that the global powers have failed in their handling of Covid-19.

"Microscopic virus is now the number one threat in our world. The Covid-19 pandemic is a full-blown crisis in itself, unfolding against a backdrop of high geopolitical tensions and other global threats in unpredictable and dangerous ways".

The Secretary-General said that the pandemic is a clear test of international cooperation, a test that "we have essentially failed". He attributed this to a lack of global preparedness, cooperation, unity and solidarity.

He noted that many of the cross-border challenges faced today — from the climate crisis to rising inequality to cybercrime — involve interest groups, businesses, organizations and entire sectors that cannot be addressed effectively by states alone.

Guterres said that the world needs to mobilize its resource to ensure an affordable vaccine for the public good.

"A rational and equitable approach to vaccination would reduce preventable deaths by prioritizing frontline workers and the most vulnerable. But we have struggled to mobilize the resources needed to ensure a vaccine as a global public good, available and affordable to all."

Our world is no longer bipolar or unipolar, he said, noting that it is moving towards multipolarity.

"As Covid-19 is casting a dark shadow across the world, we need to broaden our idea of global governance, to take in businesses, civil society, cities and regions, academia and young people," he said..