Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland has warned that corruption is set to increase as countries in the region seek to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We can expect, fraud, bribery, theft, and other criminal practices will rise as people seek to exploit this terrible situation for their own immoral gain," she declared during a conference hosted by the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commission and Anti Corruption Bodies on Wednesday.

"All of these create an environment which is ripe for embezzlement, false claims, kickback and other forms of corruption that undermine efforts to defeat this deadly virus," she told the heads of anti-corruption agencies, law enforcement officials, government ministers and members of the judiciary across the region.

The conference was chaired by Dirk Harrison, the recently retired acting director of corruption prosecution at Jamaica’s Integrity Commission.

Harrison, who is a former contractor general in Jamaica, is currently the chairperson for the Commonwealth Caribbean integrity association, which seeks to help member states develop and adopt measures and strategies to combat corruption and improve good governance.