The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in a video message on Thursday 19 March, called for exceptional means, of exceptional magnitude, based on international solidarity to address the Covid-19 crisis - an unprecedented global, health, human and economic crisis.
In his view, the scattered national measures taken so far were not commensurate with the challenge, and solidarity should be shown with the countries with the weakest capacities, particularly developing countries.
"A global recession is a near certainty", he warned, pointing out that according to International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates, workers were at risk of losing $3.4 trillion in income.
My central message now is that "we are in an unprecedented situation and the normal rules no longer apply", Guterres said, calling for "a creative response".
In this regard, he welcomed the decision of the G20 to hold an emergency summit next week.
An opportunity too. "But in managing this crisis, we also have a unique opportunity to steer the recovery towards a more sustainable and inclusive path", he stressed.
Referring to the three urgent areas for action, he cited: - the health crisis, which requires an immediate increase in health spending. "It has been proven that the virus can be contained, it must be contained". This requires strict adherence to WHO recommendations, "otherwise millions of people will lose their lives", and global solidarity; - the need to address the social impact of the crisis, which is not a banking crisis. "Banks must be part of the solution" and "use their resilience to support their customers"; - the urgent need to act to respond to the human crisis, above all by focusing on people to support low-wage workers, SMEs, "the most vulnerable". (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)