The world leaders and philanthropists have pledged eight billion dollars to boost research for a coronavirus vaccine.

The donations come from around 40 countries, the UN, research institutes and philanthropic bodies in an online summit hosted by European Union.

On the occasion, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the money would help kickstart unprecedented global co-operation.

She said it showed the true value of unity and humanity, but warned much more would be needed in the days ahead.

Also Read: Coronavirus vaccine could take one to two years to develop: Bill Gates

Addressing an online European Union pledging conference in Brussels, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said most massive public health effort in the history was needed to overcome COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN chief welcomed donor countries’ contributions to speed up the production of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to end novel coronavirus threat.

He warned that worse was yet to come as the virus was likely to strike many countries with ill-equipped health systems.

Worldwide death toll from coronavirus pandemic reaches to 252,407

The worldwide death toll from coronavirus pandemic has reached to 252,407.

According to latest tally based on official figures, 1.2 million coronavirus patients have recovered out of 3,646,201 globally.

The United States has the highest number of deaths at 69,921 with 1,212,900 patients, followed by Italy with 29,079 with 211,938 patients, Britain 28,734 with 190,584 patients, Spain 25,428 with 248,301 patients and France 25,201 deaths with 25,201 patients.