Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, the former Labour Prime Minister urged countries across the world to cooperate in a united response to the coronavirus outbreak. Mr Brown said: “This is a global problem, it’s not just a national problem. It needs global action and not simply national action. We’ve had too much of America first, India first, China first.

“We’ve had too much of this populist nationalism.

“We are finding that we are connected, whether you like it or not.

“We are finding that we depend on each other, whether we like it or not.

“And I think people have got to put aside the differences they have and international cooperation is absolutely vital to this.

“It’s absolutely vital to finding a vaccine and then manufacture it quickly.

“It’s absolutely vital to keep the economy moving.

“And if you don’t have confidence that people are in control, that people know what they’re doing and are getting on with it, then all the other consequences that we’ve seen will follow.”

It comes as the US Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation on Wednesday providing billions of dollars to limit the damage from the coronavirus pandemic through free testing, paid sick leave and expanded safety-net spending.

President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, and Congress and the White House are discussing additional stimulus measures that could cost more than $1 trillion.

Lawmakers in the Republican-led Senate largely set aside their ideological divisions, passing the legislation by a bipartisan vote of 90-8, with all “no” votes coming from Republicans. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives also passed the bill by an overwhelming bipartisan margin last Saturday.

The exact cost has not been tallied, but the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the sick leave and family leave provisions alone would cost $105 billion.

Lawmakers are simultaneously trying to craft another emergency package that could cost $1.3trillion – far more than the mammoth recession-fighting packages that Congress passed in 2008 and 2009 during the financial crisis.

That package could include two rounds of direct payments to Americans, totalling $250billion each, according to a Treasury Department proposal.

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President Trump suggested on Tuesday those checks could amount to up to $1,000 each. Payments would be tiered based on income and family size. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said expanded unemployment benefits would provide more of an impact.

The plan also would provide $300billion for small businesses, $50billion in loans for cash-strapped airlines and $150 billion for loan guarantees to other distressed economic sectors.

The coronavirus has infected almost 8,000 people in the United States, killing at least 145. It has pummeled financial markets and upended daily life.

Health officials have advised Americans to avoid non-essential travel and large gatherings in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

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