The United States opted out from an initiative that had the world leaders pooling in $8 billion to research, creation, and distribution of possible vaccine against the novel coronavirus detected in December 2019.
Nations that participated in the global effort were countries within the European Union, and Britain, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Canada, South Africa among others. China sent a representative to participate.
The $8 billion pledges will build on efforts led by the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other private donors.
The US did not elaborate on why it opted out from the initiative. Nonetheless, a representative said the country supports the effort led by the EU, highlighting that the US is spearheading other efforts to fight the pandemic.
Observers, however, are suspecting that the US could no longer afford to spend. It would be recalled that US President Donald Trump decided to stop funding the World Health Organization.
On Monday, reports were also in that the US is planning to borrow $3tn in the second quarter with financial analysts guessing will be through selling government bonds. The amount will be dedicated to the country's rescue packages to cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The planned borrowing is more than five times its debt incurred in 2008 when the country is in the middle of the financial crisis. In 2019, the US also incurred $1.2tn in debt.
Setting aside the planned $3tn for the pandemic, the government already has an existing $25tn in debt. Last month, the US Congressional Budget Office estimated that budget deficit ould reached $3.7tn this year. America's national debt is now more than 100% of the GDP.
Europe and the US are the hardest-hit regions in the world. Together, the two regions accounted for more than 85% of the world's overall fatalities. COVID-19 has now killed 239,604 people globally with additional fatalities of 976 reported in the past 24 hours. Total confirmed cases are now at 3,435,894 with new 86,108 cases confirmed within the past 24 hours.
COVID-19 has now infected 1,544,145 people as of Monday night. The continent also recorded 25,250 new cases in the past 24 hours. Deaths in the continent are now at 143,987 plus newly reported fatalities at 1320.
The picture is dimmer in the US taking into account that there are more than 40 countries in Europe even if five nations - Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Germany - accounted for most of its COVID-cases.
The US now has 1,125,719 confirmed cases, single-handedly. Deaths are now more than 60,000. An internal study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that new coronavirus could peak to more than 200,000 per day by June 1. The country could see 3,000 deaths per day.
