The proposal, drafted by IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath and staff economist Ruchir Agarwal, builds on efforts already under way by the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, United Nations, World Health Organization and other groups.

Implementing the plan would cost some $50 billion, with $35 billion to be paid for by grants from rich countries, private and multilateral donors, and the remaining $15 billion to be funded by national governments using low- or no-interest financing available from multilateral development banks.

On that basis, the WHO said it estimated that 1.1 million to 1.3 million people in 53 European countries died from Covid-19 in 2020, roughly double the number recorded in official data. It also calculates that, over the same period, 1.3 million to 1.5 million people died in 35 countries in the Americas, compared with the 9,00,000 deaths officially recorded.

The UK prime minister claimed that the “Global Pandemic Radar,” as the network was called, will ensure the early detection of new variants and emerging pathogens, so vaccines and treatments needed to stop them can be rapidly developed.

The UN Security Council called on Wednesday for accelerated availability of Covid-19 vaccines for Africa, expressing concern that the continent has only received about 2% of all vaccines administered globally.

Instead, two paths are emerging: In countries such as Israel, new Covid cases are declining as vaccinations spread, while in other places like the Seychelles — which has fully inoculated more of its population than any other nation — infections continue to increase or even reach new highs.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 33,025,606 and 587,843, respectively, according to the CSSE.In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 25,496,330 cases.