Coronavirus: why global action is needed

The leaders of the G20 states have agreed in a video conference to invest 4.5 trillion euros in the global economy and expand production of medical supplies. Appeals to show greater solidarity with the countries of the Southern Hemisphere, however, were left unaddressed. Commentators push for concrete action.

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La Stampa (IT) /

Seeing the big picture more urgent than ever

Europe must not lose sight of the rest of the world, La Stampa warns:

“Of course we are now focused on our own struggle, the damage to our economy, our deaths and the risk of unprecedented levels of unemployment. Nevertheless we must look ahead to the future and the time after infections have peaked, when countries that are ill-prepared, poorer and more populous than ours will still be facing the worst. In Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and South Asia only very few countries have the technologically advanced economies or robust health systems and institutions needed to combat the spread of infection. ... Until now they seemed safe from contagion. But the numbers are rising. And that concerns us too.”

Financial Times (GB) /

Rethink cooperation

States must stand together in this pandemic, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown writes in the Financial Times:

“The G20 must underwrite and accelerate a concerted global effort to develop, manufacture and distribute vaccines and treatments. Every nation needs, almost simultaneously and at scale, testing kits, ventilators, cleaning chemicals and protective equipment. … Out of the carnage of the second world war came the UN, the IMF, World Bank and the WHO. Out of this crisis must come reforms to the international architecture and a whole new level of global co-operation. This is an urgently needed public good for a world beginning to understand that it is more interdependent and fragile than ever before.”