Coronavirus threat to whole of humanity: UN chief

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said COVID-19 is a threat to the “whole of humanity and the whole of humanity must fight back.”

He has also launched an appeal for $2bn in international humanitarian aid to help poorer countries tackle the coronavirus pandemic, as the death toll in Italy and Spain continued to climb.

As the UN launched the initiative, more deaths were reported in Europe-now the epicentre of the pandemic - with Spain recording more than 700 fatalities in 24 hours. It is now the second-worst affected country in the world after Italy.

In the United States, meanwhile, a sweeping $2 trillion measure to aid workers, businesses, and the healthcare system appeared to have stalled by late Wednesday.

More than 467,500 people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 113,800 have recovered, while about 21,000 people have died.



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