MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. /TASS/. A state of emergency has been imposed in Peru over the novel coronavirus outbreak which includes closing the country's borders, Peru's President Martin Vizcarra said on Sunday.

"In the Council of Ministers, we have unanimously approved a decree that imposes a state of emergency in the country over serious circumstances linked to the coronavirus, which affect life of the nation," Vizcarra said. "Full border closure is announced during the state of emergency," he added noting that this will last for 15 days.

A total of 71 cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Peru so far.

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 120 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.