(VOVWORLD) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is "moving in the wrong direction" and exhorted nations to take urgent action to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. (Photo: Reuters) |
At a Friday press conference, the UN chief said COVID-19 is a wake-up call, and vaccine-manufacturing nations have been unable to ramp up production toward the goal of vaccinating some 70 percent of the world population by the first half of 2022.
He said the pandemic has demonstrated the world’s collective failure to come together and make joint decisions for the common good, even in the face of an immediate, life-threatening global emergency.
Guterres dismissed calls to delay a major UN climate summit, known as COP26, due to take place in Scotland in November, saying that this is an urgent issue. He urged the United States and China, the world's two biggest polluters, to do more to combat climate change.