The World Health Organisation (WHO) and other aid groups have appealed to leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies to fund a $23.4 billion plan to bring Covid-19 vaccines, tests and drugs to poorer countries in the next year.

The ambitious plan outlines the strategy of the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator until September 2022, expected to include the use of an experimental oral antiviral pill made by Merck & Co for treating mild and moderate cases.

"The request is for $23.4 billion. That's a fair amount of money, but if you compare with the damage also done to global economy by the pandemic it is not really that much," Carl Bildt, WHO Special Envoy to the ACT-Accelerator, told a pre-briefing for selected journalists.

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