Boris Johnson and other world leaders have said that the post-coronavirus world needs to work to protect the health of future generations and deal with future pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion.

Covid-19 has been a “stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe” and a new treaty for pandemic preparedness and response will be needed to tackle future health crises.

The issue has been raised by Mr Johnson and 23 other world leaders including French and German counterparts Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in a letter printed in newspapers right across the world.

The letter said the virus has been the “biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s,” noting the two world wars in the first half of the 20th century led to an era of cooperation between nation-states.

It said: “Today we hold the same hope that, as we fight to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic together, we can build a more robust international health architecture that will protect future generations.

“We believe that nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response. Such a renewed collective commitment would be a milestone in stepping up pandemic preparedness at the highest political level.”

There is a shared commitment to “ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this and future pandemics,” it added.

Coronavirus has so far led to the deaths of nearly 2.8 million people worldwide, according to figures from the Johns Hopkins University while a total of 127 million people have been infected by the virus first detected in China in late 2019.