British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged on Saturday over $400 million in additional funds to the World Health Organization, a 30 per cent increase to the U.K.'s funds to the global body.

Delivering a recorded speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Johnson said the COVID-19 pandemic has increased barriers to trade.

He also committed an initial £71 million ($90.4 million) pounds to the global vaccine partnership known as COVAX to secure purchase rights on 27 million doses, and £500 million ($637.25 million) to a separate COVAX initiative to help poorer countries access a vaccine.

Johnson said the British pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca has already started manufacturing millions of doses of the University of Oxford's potential vaccine to prepare for rapid distribution.

The U.K. reported 6,873 COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the country’s total number of cases to over 41,000.

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