Could anything good come out of the coronavirus pandemic? Amid mass deaths, lockdowns and the prospect of another Depression, it is hard to find a bright side.

Yet one ray of light may be emerging from an unlikely venue — the UN. Last month, António Guterres, the secretary-general, issued a call for a “global ceasefire” — to try to prevent the world’s warzones being further ravaged by Covid-19. Perhaps surprisingly, the call has had some effect on the ground — even in raging conflicts such as Yemen and Syria. Later this week, the push for a global ceasefire may gain momentum, if the UN Security Council approves a resolution backing the idea.

Ceasefires would make it possible to get medical supplies and food into war-torn countries threatened by Covid-19. The World Food Programme warned recently that millions of people in “about three dozen countries”, many of them conflict-zones, are now at risk of “famines of biblical proportions” because of the economic collapse caused by the pandemic.