The US, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal will co-host the second Global COVID-19 Summit on May 12, the nations announced on Monday.
“The Summit will redouble our collective efforts to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future health threats,” the countries said in a joint statement.
The meeting follows the first summit in September 2021. The second time around, the five countries are seeking to build on commitments already made, and “will place an emphasis on supporting locally-led solutions to both immediate and long-term challenges.”
“The emergence and spread of new variants, like omicron, have reinforced the need for a strategy aimed at controlling COVID-19 worldwide,” the White House said in a joint statement with Germany, which holds the G-7 presidency, Indonesia, holder of the G-20 presidency, Belize, as chair of the Caribbean Community and Senegal, as current African Union Chair.
That includes ensuring greater vaccine uptake, more robust sharing of tests and treatments, and creating more sustainable finances to help nations prepare for pandemics.
“We look forward to another successful Summit to continue the international effort in the fight against COVID-19 and to advance global pandemic preparedness,” the countries said.
There have been over 504 million COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide, and over 6 million deaths. The US alone is nearing the grim milestone of 1 million people killed by the virus since it emerged in China in late 2019.
The announcement comes as cases start to climb again in the U.S. after their steep decline early in the year, driven by the BA.2 variant, and two new subvariants that appear to be even more infectious.
