Over $30 billion needed to develop coronavirus tests, treatments, vaccines: WHO.

UNITED NATIONS -- The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners fighting the coronavirus pandemic said Friday it needs $31.3 billion over the next 12 months to develop and roll out tests, treatments and vaccines to fight the corona virus disease.

Ahead of a major pledging summit, officials of the WHO and its partners updated journalists in Geneva on a recently announced initiative to speed up production of these treatments, known as the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

'It's clear that to bring COVID-19 under control, and to save lives, we need effective vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics-in unprecedented quantities and at unprecedented speed', WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The ACT-Accelerator was launched at the end of April, bringing together governments, health organizations, scientists, businesses, civil society and philanthropists.

Members work across four pillars: diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and what they call 'the health system connector'.

"Total needs are estimated for low-and-middle-income countries over 12 months for therapeutics and diagnostics, and 18 months for vaccines," Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a special envoy for the WHO's ACT-Accelerator programme at an online event ahead of a pledging conference.

COVID-19 has recorded 9.65 million cases worldwide and claimed more than 490,000 lives this year, according to the Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

WHO said $3.4 billion had been contributed to date, leaving a funding gap of $27.9 billion, of which $13.7 billion is "urgently needed".

"It's clear that to bring COVID-19 under control and to save lives, we need effective vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics - in unprecedented quantities and at unprecedented speed," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the event.

Answering a question, Dr. Soumya...

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