U.N. chief says world faces ‘epochal’ crisis

SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres warned the U.N.’s first virtual meeting of global leaders Tuesday that the world is facing an “epochal” health crisis, the biggest economic calamity and job losses since the Great Depression, threats to human rights — and the risk of a new Cold War between the U.S. and China.

In his bleak state of the world speech to the U.N. General Assembly’s annual highlevel meeting, the U.N. chief said that the coronavirus that “brought the world to its knees” was but “a dress rehearsal for the world of challenges to come.”

He called for global unity, first and foremost to fight the pandemic, and sharply criticized populism and nationalism for failing to contain the virus, and for often making things worse.

Days after the pandemic shut down big parts of the world in March, Guterres called for a global ceasefire to tackle it. On Tuesday, he appealed for a 100day push by the international community, led by the Security Council, “to make this a reality by the end of the year.”