World leaders pledge billions for virus vaccine research

World leaders on Monday pledged billions of euros for research to find a vaccine against the new coronavirus, but warned that it is just the start of an effort that must be sustained over time to beat the disease.

At a video-conference summit, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the 7.5 billion euros (USD 8.2 billion) target being sought to help find a vaccine, new treatments and better tests for the disease would be merely a down-payment on the tools that will be needed to fight the virus.

To reach everyone, everywhere, we likely need five times that amount, Guterres said.

Two hours into the EU-hosted summit, just over 5.4 billion euros had been pledged, according to a European Commission tally.

Governments have reported around 3.5 million infections and more than 247,000 deaths from the virus, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.

But deliberately concealed outbreaks, low testing rates and the strain on health care systems mean the true scale of the pandemic is much greater.

People in many countries across the globe, and notably in Europe this week, are cautiously returning to work but authorities remain wary of a second wave of infections, and a vaccine is the only real golden bullet to allow something like normal life to resume.

The reality is that we will have to learn to live with the virus until and unless we develop a vaccine, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as she announced a pledge of 1 billion euros from the EU's executive arm.

More will be needed. So today is only the start of a global pledging marathon, von der Leyen said.

President Emmanuel Macron also warned that a race against time is underway, as he donated 500 million euros on behalf of France.

Apart from many European leaders, heads of state and government from Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey were also due to speak, along with China's EU ambassador.

The United States, where more than 67,000 people have died, was a notable absentee, as was Russia.

The video-conference's aim is to gather around 4 billion euros (USD 4.37 billion) for vaccine research, some 2 billion euros for treatments and 1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) for testing.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries, but the most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes."