UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed for an ‘immediate global ceasefire’ (Picture: Getty/WHO)

The UN Secretary-General has appealed for an ‘immediate global ceasefire’ to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones from the coronavirus pandemic.



Antonio Guterres made the plea earlier today in a brief speech at UN headquarters in New York, mentioning no country by name.



He said: ‘The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war.



‘That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.’




Syria has reported its first case of Covid-19, in a country already impacted by a ten-year war, and other cases have emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan.





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Experts and diplomats expect the virus to wreak havoc in countries in conflict, which often are very poor and have fragile health care systems.



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Guterres added: ‘It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.



‘Silence the guns; stop the artillery; end the airstrikes.”



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Doing so, he said, was crucial for opening corridors to deliver life-saving aid.



He said: ‘End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world. It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now,.’



The UN is expected to unveil on Wednesday a detailed worldwide plan of humanitarian relief with the creation of a fund dedicated to the international fight against coronavirus.



A Syrian youth wearing protective gloves and mask (Picture: AFP)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned today the coronavirus pandemic is clearly ‘accelerating’, but said it was still possible to ‘change the trajectory’ of the outbreak.



The remarks came as the number of deaths soared past 15,000, with more than 341,000 people infected worldwide.



WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it took 67 days from the beginning of the outbreak in China in late December for the virus to infect the first 100,000 people worldwide.



In comparison, it took 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases, he said.



The number of cases is believed to represent only a fraction of the true number of infections, with many countries only testing the most severe cases in need of hospitalisation.



Tedros added: ‘We are not helpless bystanders. We can change the trajectory of this pandemic.’



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