G20 leaders urged for joint response against COVID-19

ANKARA (AA) – Amnesty International on Thursday urged G20 nations ahead of their meeting to mobilize their resources to protect the most vulnerable from coronavirus.

The leaders of the world’s top 20 economies, including Turkey, will hold a video conference later in the day to assess the situation triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The response to this pandemic must be based on cooperation and sharing of resources, because national strategies will not be enough on their own,” said Amnesty International urging coordinated responses to cope with the COVID-19 crisis which has killed over 21,000 people in 175 countries and territories.

“Not only is helping the most marginalized the right thing to do, inadequate healthcare in any part of the world is a risk to us all. The rapid spread of COVID-19 has shown how connected we all are,” said Netsanet Belay, research and advocacy director of the rights group.

“They [G20 countries] have a lot of financial measures at their disposal and they must consider them all. We will beat this virus together, for everyone, or not at all,” Belay added.

Urging transparency in decision-making, Amnesty said that any measure by G20 must guarantee access for all to preventive care and good quality and affordable treatment, including those most at risk.

Italy, China, Iran, and Spain continue to be the most affected countries from the pandemic.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who contract the virus suffer only mild symptoms before making a recovery.