BEIJING, March 26. /TASS/. Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on the G20 leaders to look into an initiative to create regional communication mechanisms for future potential public health emergencies.
"It is imperative to consider creation of regional communication mechanisms for future public health emergencies, to speed up the response to public health emergencies," he said during the G20 Summit which took place in a video conference call format Thursday.
"Nations must join their forces to speed up joint researches in development and testing of drugs, vaccines; as well as to achieve breakthrough results that will benefit entire humanity," Xi said.
The G20 Summit took place behind closed doors. The participants discussed coordination of actions on fight against the coronavirus and the economic consequences of the pandemic. Following the summit, a joint statement has been published.
In January, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple locations.
As of today, 196 countries and territories reported confirmed coronavirus cases. According to the latest reports, over 457,000 cases of patients infected with the novel coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, while more than 21,000 people died of the disease.
Russia has reported 840 coronavirus cases, with 38 people recovered from the disease. Two people have succumbed to the infection.