Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered remarks at the UN General Assembly's special session on COVID-19, calling for enhanced solidarity and cooperation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

In terms of vaccine development progress, Wang said China is "speeding up the Phase 3 clinical trials of our vaccines" and will make them a "global public good" to help build a community of health for all. 

In addition, Wang introduced that China has taken "the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough methods" in handling COVID-19, and has built up "the mechanism to coordinate medium and long-term efforts on epidemic control and economic and social development." 

"We also have launched the largest ever global humanitarian campaign in the history of the People's Republic of China, engaged the most intensive virtual exchanges, and stepped up to all responsibilities as a largest supplier of anti-epidemic materials," Wang added and promised to continue to provide support and assistance to countries in need.

The U.N. chief warned Thursday that the social and economic impact of COVID-19 "is enormous and growing" and emphasized that it's foolish to believe a vaccine can undo damage from the global pandemic that will last for years or even decades.

Speaking to world leaders at the General Assembly's first and mainly virtual special session on COVID-19, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accused some countries of not following the World Health Organization's recommendations at the start of the crisis early this year. "And when countries go in their own direction, the virus goes in every direction," Guterres said.

The U.N. chief also pointed to growing extreme poverty, the looming threat of famine, and the prospect of "the biggest global recession in eight decades," saying these impacts aren't due to the coronavirus alone but are the result of long-term inequalities and injustices exposed by the pandemic that must be addressed.

General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir opened the two-day session, calling it a historic and overdue moment of reckoning to forge a path to end the pandemic that not only ensures people everywhere have access to vaccines but mobilizes financial resources for "an inclusive and resilient recovery.

(With inputs from AP)