Financial Secretary Janet Yellen Zeng said that she was “very worried” about the risks that the new coronavirus variant might pose to the global economy recovering from the pandemic.
According to AFP, after the G20 meeting in Venice, Italy on Sunday, she told reporters: “We are very worried about the Delta variant and other variants that may appear and threaten recovery.”
“We are an interconnected global economy, and what happens anywhere in the world affects all other countries.”
Yellen said at a press conference after the meeting that representatives of the G20 discussed how to jointly tackle a series of global challenges, including ending the pandemic.
Yellen said: “At present, the best way to fight this epidemic is to distribute vaccines more equitably across the world and provide more fiscal policy support where feasible.”
She said that while the United States has made “significant” progress in launching a COVID vaccine, “we know that in many parts of the world, including low-income countries, the pandemic is far from being controlled.”
“As long as the virus continues to spread, we are still in danger,” she said. “For this reason, the United States has pledged to share 580 million doses of vaccines. I strongly urge G20 colleagues to strengthen their support.”
She continued: “We also talked about the economic crisis associated with this pandemic and its impact on low-income countries. In some ways, the global economic slowdown will obliterate these places’ efforts to eradicate extreme poverty for decades. Progress made. This weekend, the G20 emphasized that we will provide support.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images
