The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says almost $800 million has been pledged to help pay for its response to the coronavirus pandemic this year.

That leaves a gap of just over $900 million to reach the agency's funding target of $1.7 billion.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, [the] WHO has worked day and night to coordinate the global response at all three levels of the organization — providing technical advice, catalyzing political solidarity, mobilizing resources, coordinating logistics, and much more,” Tedros told its executive board meeting on Friday.