As of Friday, the treaty had 49 signatories, and the United Nations said the 50th ratification from Honduras had been received.

Kept apart by a devastating pandemic and dispersed across the globe, world leaders convened electronically Tuesday for an unprecedented high-level meeting.

Army troops and other rescuers worked their way through mud and debris along the flooded Kuma River, where many houses and buildings were submerged nearly to their roofs.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of Friday's anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Charter

For more than six weeks the 15-member council has been trying to agree on a text that ultimately aims to back a March 23 call by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres for a ceasefire in global conflicts so the world can focus on the pandemic.

The report notes "an estimated 66 per cent of people aged 70 and over have at least one underlying condition, placing them at increased risk of severe impact from COVID-19."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to religious leaders of all faiths on Saturday to urge people to battle the coronavirus pandemic amid the coming religious occasions.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a much stronger and more effective global response to the coronavirus pandemic and to the social and economic devastation that COVID-19 is causing.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday the world is not only fighting the ``common enemy'' of the coronavirus ``but our enemy is also the growing surge of misinformation'' about COVID-19 disease.

The U.N. chief said: "It is time to put armed conflict on lock down and focus together on the true fight of our lives."