The United Kingdom welcomes this important and timely report. COVID-19 is doubtless the most destructive pandemic we have seen for generations. The direct and indirect health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19 are significant and unequal: the pandemic is affecting women and girls disproportionally, as well as people in vulnerable situations including, people with disabilities, refugees and displaced populations.
COVID-19 underscores the importance of achieving universal health coverage and the Global Goals. Strong, resilient and inclusive health systems are critical to this. The UK supports this through our multilateral investments, including to the World Health Organisation, and through bilateral support to countries.
Delivering on the objectives in the Prime Minister's Five Point Plan to Prevent Future Pandemics is a key focus of the UK's G7 presidency. At the recent UK hosted summit, leaders signed the Carbis Bay Declaration, committing the G7 to work together to strengthen our collective defences, to better prevent, detect, respond to and recover from future pandemics. G7 leaders have also pledged over 1 billion vaccine doses - either directly or through funding to COVAX to help end the pandemic in 2022, which includes 100 million from the UK.
We will continue to work closely with our international partners to overcome the pandemic and to build back better from this crisis.
