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Coronavirus pandemic

G7 leaders to discuss coronavirus spread on March 16 — Abe

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the G7 leaders will "discuss measures on how to unite in the fight against the virus spread"

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe EPA-EFE/CHRISTOPHER JUE

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

© EPA-EFE/CHRISTOPHER JUE

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Number of people dead from novel coronavirus surpasses 5,000 globally

TOKYO, March 16. /TASS/. The leaders of G7 countries will hold a teleconference on March 16 to discuss the spread of the novel coronavirus in the world, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday at the debates in the country's parliament.

"I have recently held telephone talks with the leaders of the United States, France and the United Kingdom. Today the heads of the G7 countries will hold a teleconference at 11pm [local time]," Abe said. "I hope that we will discuss measures on how to unite in the fight against the virus spread," he added.

The Chinese authorities registered an outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the city of Wuhan. Cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed in more than 100 countries and territories, including in Russia. On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Outside of China, most cases of the new coronavirus were reported in South Korea, Iran and Italy.

According to the latest reports, over 153,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in the world, and the death toll surpassed 5,700.

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