UN chief calls upon business leaders to help end the COVID-19 tsunami

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to businesses to help end the COVID-19 pandemic that has brought suffering to many countries all over the world.

Speaking in a virtual roundtable event hosted by the IKEA Foundation and Purpose, Guterres said, “This is indeed much more than a health crisis. It’s a social crisis and an economic crisis, with dramatic long-term consequences for livelihoods, businesses, and for economies”.

The UN chief also told the business leaders that COVID-19 pandemic has brought “a tsunami of suffering”, taking over 3.4 million lives and 500 million jobs, while wiping trillions of dollars from global balance sheets. He requested for equitable vaccine distribution worldwide.

The Coronavirus pandemic has proved to be the greatest global problem the world has faced since World War Two. It has become a disaster.

Mr. Guterres lamented a growing vaccine gap between rich and poor countries despite efforts by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) to authorise 13 vaccines which have been administered in more than 170 countries.

He reiterated that fast and unbiased vaccination is the only assurance of preventing or stopping the coronavirus variants from coming up and bringing more harm.

The Secretary-General finished by calling upon leaders to work together and vaccinate the world, bring to an end the pandemic, and start a strong journey of recovery.

The IKEA Foundation and Purpose is the social mobilisation organization which works together with the United Nation’s Department of Global Communications leading the UN Verified initiative, to share verified and trusted information.