The need for a globally co-ordinated response to Covid-19

Since January, I have been following international coverage and debate about Covid-19 closely.

Looking back over almost three months now, what seems extraordinary is how flat footed the international response has been. The UN Security Council has sat on its hands, ignoring the obvious precedent of 2014 when it resolved that Ebola represented a threat to global peace and security and urged member states to do whatever they could to combat it. The G20 met virtually in late March but to no effect.

I have added my voice to those of other former leaders in writing to the UN Security Council and to G20 leaders urging action. The World Health Organisation cannot deal with this crisis alone. It has now moved beyond being a health crisis to being a full-blown economic crisis with serious social ramifications.

See my op ed in the Sunday Star Times today on what could be done, and on the consequences if the world doesn’t come together to fight the pandemic and its effects.