Leaders attend the G20 Summit, held online, November 21, 2020. (Photo: AFP / VNA)

They said in a joint statement that the G20 will mobilize resources to support researching, developing, manufacturing, and distributing safe and effective diagnostic tools, treatment, and vaccines for COVID-19. 

The G20 countries will “spare no effort” to ensure “affordable and equitable access” to COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines for everyone, they said, adding that they strongly support multilateralism.

As of Monday, there have been nearly 59 million COVID-19 infections and 1.4 million deaths worldwide. The US remains the world’s epicenter with 12.5 million patients and 262,000 deaths, followed in severity by India, Brazil, France, and Russia.