UN, April 21. /TASS/. The 193 nations of the UN General Assembly have unanimously supported a resolution with a call to prevent speculation and undue stockpiling of the future vaccine against the novel coronavirus and to ensure accessibility of medicines and personal protection equipment.
A spokesperson for the UN General Assembly chair told TASS the resolution was adopted after a virtual discussion, without voting.
In the document, obtained by TASS, the General Assembly calls upon "member states and other relevant stakeholders to immediately take steps to prevent, within their respective legal frameworks, speculation and undue stockpiling that may hinder access to safe, effective and affordable essential medicines, vaccines, personal protective equipment and medical equipment as may be required to effectively address COVID-19."
The United States was among the countries that supported the document, which, among other things, stresses the World Health Organization (WHO)’s special role in tackling the pandemic.
On Monday, the chairman of the UN General Assembly’s 74th session, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, appointed his two deputies in charge of novel coronavirus issues. Permanent representatives of Afghanistan and Croatia were appointed to the posts.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,414,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 165,000 deaths have been reported.