MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The role of international interaction in combating the novel coronavirus and the demand in this cooperation is growing, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"Here it’s impossible to distance from each other. On the contrary, the importance and demand in communication is only growing," Peskov said.

"Our countries cooperate. And the heads of state have contacts. And they provide mutual assistance and exchange information," the Kremlin spokesman noted.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,200,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 150,000 deaths have been reported.

To date, a total of 42,853 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,291 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 361 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.