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Coronavirus pandemic

Many countries request Russia’s assistance in combating coronavirus, says Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Moscow has received a lot of requests for assistance in combating the coronavirus form other countries, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday, adding that all requests were under consideration.

"There are a lot of requests concerning various issues and various aspects of the coronavirus spread. Our state agencies consider every request coming from foreign countries and a coordination center makes the final decision," she pointed out.

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 140 countries, including Russia.

On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a global pandemic. As of now, over 210,000 people have been infected around the world and about 8,500 have died. Russia has identified 199 cases so far. The Russian government has launched an Internet hotline to keep the country’s people informed about the coronavirus situation.

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Maria Zakharova

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