A global summit to end the Covid-19 epidemic and prepare for future health threats will be held on May 12, the White House announced today.
The meeting, which will be held online, will be co-chaired by the United States and Germanycurrently head of the Group of Seven (G7), Indonesia, head of the G20, Senegal, head of the African Union, and Belize, head of Caricom (Caribbean).
“The summit will increase our collective efforts to end it in the acute phase of the Covid-19 epidemic “and prepare for future health threats,” the two countries said in a joint statement issued by Washington.
It will be the second global summit on the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least six million people worldwide and has shaken the global economy since it began to spread in December 2019.
US President Joe Biden had convened a similar summit on 22 September 2021 in which he was in favor of boosting vaccination rates around the world.
And today, although the death toll from Covid-19 has clearly dropped worldwide, the spread of the virus, particularly the Omicron variant, is preventing many countries from lifting the restrictions, starting in China where millions of people are still under restriction.
The US government and those of the countries involved in this summit also want to maintain a sense of urgency in the face of the epidemic. “Ahead of the May 12 summit, we call on world leaders, members of civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to make new commitments and offer solutions to vaccinate the world’s population, save lives now and to build better health security around the world, “the joint statement added.
“The emergence and spread of new variants, such as Omicron, reinforced the need for a new strategy aimed at controlling Covid-19”he added.
And, although the Omicron variant is less dangerous, though more contagious, the countries hosting this summit consider it necessary to do everything possible to prevent new health disasters from engulfing the world.
“We know we need to prepare now to build, stabilize and fund the global capability we need, not only in the face of Covid-19 variants, but also in the face of other health crises,” they warn.
Her illness Covid-19 it is far from endemic and could even cause “major epidemics”, World Health Organization officials said on Thursday.
“We are still in the middle of this pandemic, we would all like this not to happen, but we are not in an endemic stage,” said Maria van Kerchoff, the WHO official in the fight against Covid.
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