United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on March 31 launched a report entitled Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the Socio-economic Impacts of COVID-19, calling on everyone to act together to address this impact and lessen the blow to people. 

"COVID-19 is the greatest test that we have faced together since the formation of the United Nations," said Guterres at a virtual press launch of the report. "This human crisis demands coordinated, decisive, inclusive and innovative policy action from the world's leading economies — and maximum financial and technical support for the poorest and most vulnerable people and countries."

As of March 31, the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of more than 42,000 people, with more than 857,000 confirmed cases in 180 countries and regions, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

The pandemic's potential longer-term effects on the global economy and individual countries are even dire. According to the UN International Labour Organization, 5 to 25 million jobs will be eradicated, and the world will lose $860 billion to $3.4 trillion in labor income. The UN Conference on Trade and Development projected a 30 percent to 40 percent downward pressure on global foreign direct investment flows while the World Tourism Organization saw a 20 percent to 30 percent decline in international arrivals. Meanwhile, the International Telecommunication Union anticipated that 3.6 billion people will be offline and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization forecast that 1.5 billion students out of school. 

The report, coming after the International Monetary Fund has announced that the world has entered into a recession as bad or worse than in 2009, calls for a large-scale, coordinated and comprehensive multilateral response amounting to at least 10 percent of global GDP. 

The UN system is fully mobilized and is establishing a new multi-partner Trust Fund for COVID-19 Response and Recovery to support low- and middle-income countries to respond to the emergency and recover from the socio-economic shock.  

Guterres said the report is "a call to action." The UN chief called for an immediate coordinated health response to suppress transmission and end the pandemic. "It is essential that developed countries immediately assist those less developed to bolster their health systems and their response capacity to stop transmission." 

He also pushed for a focus on the most vulnerable people when tackling the devastating social and economic dimensions of this crisis. 

Guterres maintained that the recovery from the crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and the many other global challenges. "The recovery from the COVID-19 crisis must lead to a different economy," Guterres said. 

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