UN: Address to the G20

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has proposed G20 members to allocate $28 billion for an international initiative to fight the coronavirus. This is stated in letter of the Secretary General addressed to the G20 leaders.


According to the American Johns Hopkins University, more than 56 million cases of infection have been registered worldwide since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. At the moment the number of COVID-19 cases is 56,108,310. The United States (11,498,515) is still in the first place in terms of the number of cases, while India (8,912,907) and Brazil (5,911,758) are in the top three as well. 36,091,767 people recovered and 1,347,778 patients died from the COVID-19 during the whole period.

Due to the growing number of infected people, the US economy is experiencing new difficulties. About 11.5 million people have been infected in the country since the beginning of the COVID-19 spread. Pandemic has particularly affected the labor market. So, according to the authorities, unemployment rate was almost 7% in the third quarter of this year. Newly elected President Joe Biden is going to fight this problem. According to him, the team has developed a plan for economic recovery which includes creating new jobs and increasing wages.

Among European countries, Italy suffered the most from COVID-19. More than one million three hundred and thousand people have been infected in the country since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic. Thus, the state ranks third among the EU countries in terms of morbidity. Restrictive measures imposed in the country due to the virus led to a downturn in economy. The Italian government has approved a draft budget for next year in order to encourage and support businesses. According to preliminary estimates, it will be at least EUR 38 billion. Of these, more than EUR 5 billion will be allocated to the unpaid leave program to save jobs.

Earlier, Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that health systems of Europe and the United States are working on the verge of exhaustion. A number of countries have re-introduced quarantines in connection with the sharp deterioration of epidemiological situation due to the coronavirus pandemic. This was done, in particular, by Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany, France, Belgium and Greece. Ukraine introduced a weekend quarantine as well.