Boris Johnson has called for "global unity" in addressing the coronavirus pandemic in an address to the UN General Assembly today.
He has accused some nations of acting "selfishly" in the address in which he outlined the UK Government's plan for preventing a further global pandemic.
"COVID-19, coronavirus, has united humanity as never before", he said. "And yet the crisis has also been an extraordinary force for division."
READ MORE: IN FULL: Prime Minister Boris Johnson's speech on coronavirus pandemic to UN General Assembly
The Prime Minister said in his remarks that despite being "up against the same enemy", "the very notion of the international community looks tattered," making "individual nations seem selfish and divided from each other."
He added: “Never again must we wage 193 separate campaigns against the same enemy."
Mr Johnson also spoke of his hopes for humanity to "reach across borders and repair these ugly rifts."
He continued: "Let’s heal the world – literally and metaphorically.
"And let’s begin with the truth, because as someone once said, the truth shall set you free."
The Prime Minister also spoke of the "100 potential vaccines" that are currently being trialled, and pledged that the UK is to contribute up to £571 million to COVAX, a new initiative designed to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine across the world.
He also announced that the UK's plan to boost funding to the World Health Organization by 30 per cent, to 340 million pounds over the next four years.
You can read his address to the UN General Assembly in full here.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel