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# World

World leaders pledge billions for COVID-19 vaccine, WHO commends ‘global solidarity’

Monday’s teleconference, raised more than $8 billion for the search for a vaccine to protect against COVID-19, and especially to ensure equitable distribution once one is developed.

SNS | New Delhi | May 5, 2020 3:05 pm

World leaders pledge billions for COVID-19 vaccine, WHO commends ‘global solidarity’

Municipal workers arrive to pick up the body of a person suspected of having died from COVID-19, from his home in Manaus, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, on May 4, 2020 during novel coronavirus pandemic. - The novel coronavirus has killed at least 249,372 people worldwide since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT on Monday. (Photo by Michael DANTAS / AFP)

At a video-conference summit hosted by the European Union on Monday countries around the world pledged to help develop a coronavirus vaccine and fund research into the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Around 40 countries and donors took part in an online summit hosted by the EU.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the money would help kickstart unprecedented global co-operation.

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The World Health Organization hailed the billions of euros raised during the teleconference of world leaders to boost development of a coronavirus vaccine as a strong show of “global solidarity”.

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“This was a powerful and inspiring demonstration of global solidarity,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing, of the 7.4 billion euros ($8.1 billion) raised towards the development and distribution of a vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Monday’s teleconference, raised more than $8 billion for the search for a vaccine to protect against COVID-19, and especially to ensure equitable distribution once one is developed.

“This is an opportunity for the world to come together to confront a common threat, but also to forge a common future,” Tedros said.

He stressed that the money raised would only cover part of the ongoing response against the pandemic, which has killed nearly 250,000 people out of the more than 3.5 million recorded infections globally.

“In the weeks and months ahead, we will need much more to meet the demand for personal protective equipment, medical oxygen and other essential supplies,” he said.

The pandemic has infected almost 3.6 million people worldwide and claimed 251,718 lives till Tuesday according to Johns Hopkins University data.

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