U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that over a dozen countries have said they will begin or continue ceasefires, in response to his appeal for warring parties to stop fighting amid the COVID-19 pandemic that is having devastating effects worldwide.

Fighters in Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Colombia, Libya, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen have all “expressed their acceptance for the call,” Guterres said.

“The virus has shown how swiftly it can move across borders, devastate countries and upend lives,” Guterres said. “We need to do everything possible to find the peace and unity our world so desperately needs to battle COVID-19.”