G7 leaders to set out global anti-pandemic plan
G7 leaders are to commit to using almost all their resources in order to ensure the devastation caused by a pandemic like Covid-19 is never repeated.
On the second day of their summit in Cornwall, they will issue a declaration that sets out a number of actions intended to achieve this.
The goal is to slash the time needed to develop vaccines to under 100 days.
On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson opened the summit with a plea to tackle global inequality.
Mr Johnson, who's hosting the three-day gathering at the Cornish seaside resort of Carbis Bay, said it had been vital to learn from the "mistakes" of the 2008 financial meltdown and deal with the "scar" of inequality.
After Friday's talks, the leaders were joined the Queen for a dinner at the local Eden Project.
As they posed for an organization photo, the monarch was heard to joke: "Are actually you supposed to be looking as though you're enjoying yourself?"
The leaders around the Queen laughed, and Mr Johnson replied emphatically: "Yes." The prime minister added: "We've been enjoying ourselves - in spite of appearances."
The G7 (Group of Seven) is an organisation made up of the world's seven greatest so-called advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the UK and the US.
Two leading EU politicians are as well attending the summit.
The G7 leaders will issue the Carbis Bay Declaration after a particular session on Saturday, that will set out an idea to attempt to prevent any repeat of the human and economic devastation wreaked by Covid-19.
Globally, a lot more than 175 million people experienced the infection because the outbreak began, with above 3.7 million Covid-related deaths, regarding to America's Johns Hopkins university.
The G7 declaration will explain a number of concrete steps, including:
- Slashing the period taken up to develop and licence vaccines, procedures and diagnostics for just about any future disease to underneath 100 days
- Reinforcing global surveillance networks and genomic sequencing capacity
- Support for reforming and strengthening the World Health Organization (WHO)
Before the talks, Mr Johnson said: "Within the last year the world has developed several effective coronavirus vaccines, qualified and manufactured them at pace and is now getting them in to the arms of the persons who need them.
"But to seriously defeat coronavirus and recover we must prevent a good pandemic such as this from ever happening again. Which means learning lessons from the previous 18 months and carrying it out differently the next time around."
The declaration is likely to incorporate recommendations from a report by several international authorities drawn from across industry, federal government and scientific institutions.
UN Secretary Standard António Guterres and Who exactly director Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus may also take part in Saturday's session.
Dr Tedros stressed that "the world requires a stronger global surveillance program to detect brand-new epidemic and pandemic risks".
