Wanted: Closer cooperation, greater solidarity: China Daily editorial

Statistics from multiple sources show the accumulated confirmed novel coronavirus infections worldwide have surpassed 100 million. And that the death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 2 million.

After more than a year, many are numb to the ceaselessly rising tallies of daily infections and deaths. Yet despite the optimism that has accompanied the rollout of effective vaccines and mass inoculation programs in various countries, the pandemic has yet to show any signs of abating. Even more worrying is the fact that new variants of the virus keep emerging and are threatening to hit the most poorly prepared communities.

Hundreds of thousands of new infections are reported globally each passing day. And, on average, over 10,000 people worldwide are dying of COVID-19 every day. One in every 74 people in the global population has been infected with the coronavirus.

These are the bare figures. But they highlight the scale of the threat humanity faces.

The governments of all countries must coordinate their policies and responses, and work with the World Health Organization to guarantee equitable, orderly and scientific distribution of the available vaccines and other medical resources.

The virus is impartial. It has hit the best-equipped and least-equipped countries equally hard. And the virus has undergone several major mutations. New, more easily transmissible strains that were identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom have been found in other countries. It's likely that more significant strains will continue to emerge.

World leaders have shown due concern about the situation, and seem anxious for a joint response. At the virtual World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda meeting that began on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his confidence that "humanity will prevail over the virus and emerge even stronger from this disaster", but he cautioned that "the recent resurgence in COVID cases reminds us that we must carry on the fight". He called for solidarity and closer cooperation to ensure a global response.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel too said that "we are better off acting together". South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated the crisis has shown the critical significance of cooperation in meeting such global challenges. But he also cautioned of the risk "vaccine nationalism" poses to the pandemic response. A risk United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also warned of.

So while it is great to see mass inoculation programs progressing in some countries, if the vaccines remain inaccessible, or unaffordable, to poor countries and communities, it will not only be immoral but also prejudicial to the fight against the virus. It will indefinitely prolong the global fight against the virus, and result in losses that would otherwise be avoidable.