COVID-19 brings suffering to many around the world​

United Nations, May 28 (RHC)-- The COVID-19 pandemic has brought “a tsunami of suffering”, taken over 3.4 million lives and 500 million jobs, while wiping trillions of dollars from global balance sheets, Secretary-General António Guterres told business leaders, appealing for equitable vaccine distribution worldwide. 

“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”, he said to a virtual roundtable event – part of the UN’s global campaign, Only Together – hosted jointly with the IKEA Foundation and Purpose – the social mobilisation organization which partners with the Department of Global Communications leading the UN Verified initiative, to combat misinformation. 

The UN chief recognized the many lives that have been saved: “To have you leading this meeting is a guarantee of success because what our partnership has always represented is indeed the very symbol of the values we represent.”

“By working together, we can vaccinate the world, end the pandemic, and kick-start a strong recovery,” the Secretary-General concluded.