MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. No final decision has been made yet on holding a virtual G20 summit and it is too early to say what initiatives Russia could present at the event, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"It is too early to speak about it," he said when asked if Russia would put forward any initiatives at the summit.

According to the Russian presidential spokesman, efforts are underway to outline ways to hold a virtual summit as the sherpas of G20 member states "maintain contact over its agenda, based on the understanding that there is only one major topic, the fight against the coronavirus."

On March 18, the Saudi Press Agency reported that Riyadh planned to call a virtual emergency summit of the G20 group to discuss the coronavirus situation. Saudi Arabia is presiding over the G20 this year. The 2020 summit of the group is scheduled for November.

Coronavirus pandemic

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in more than 190 countries and territories, including Russia.

On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a global pandemic. As of now, over 345,000 people have been infected around the world and more than 14,900 have died. Russia has identified 438 cases so far, 17 patients have recovered. The Russian government has launched an Internet hotline to keep the population informed about the coronavirus situation.