Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday urged the global community to launch an initiative to give debt relief to developing countries that are fighting the novel coronavirus, as Pakistan reported nearly 450 fresh cases, bringing the total number of the COVID-19 patients to 5,230.

In a video message, Mr. Khan said that highly indebted countries are facing a “lack of fiscal space” that was inhibiting their efforts to prevent the coronavirus from spreading and, at the same time, providing relief to people.

He said a global pandemic cannot be contained without strong, coordinated and well-crafted global response.

The Global Initiative on Debt Relief will bring together stakeholders on a platform to promote coordinated health and economic response, he said.

Noting that COVID-19 posed unprecedented health and economic challenges, Mr. Khan underlined that a global recession worse than the Great Depression was certain.

He noted that during the past week, various announcements have been made by multilateral actors such as the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, including an initial relief packages of $1.4 billion by the IMF and $1 billion by the World Bank.

Mr. Khan invited the UN Secretary General to work with him in advancing the objectives of a coordinated response.

“The proposed Global Initiative aims to lay ground for urgent debt relief to the developing countries, at their request, and without onerous conditionalities,” he said.

While proposing the Initiative, Mr. Khan highlighted that his Government had provided $8 billion stimulus package to help the most vulnerable people in Pakistan.

Mr. Khan entrusted the Foreign Minister and Adviser on Finance to reach out to their respective counterparts for the “Global Initiative on Debt Relief” with the objectives of relieving developing countries of the financial challenge from the COVID-19 pandemic and realizing sustainable development.

His appeal came as the Ministry of National Health Services reported 399 fresh coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of the COVID-19 patients in the country to 5,183.

The nation-wide breakdown of the patients showed that Punjab has 2,464 cases, Sindh 1,411, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 744, Balochistan 228, Gilgit-Baltistan 224 Islamabad 119 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 40.