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Russia calls on US to reject attempts to complicate fight against COVID-19

It is regrettable that instead of cooperation in the fight against the pandemic the West and the US in particular adds new irritants into both bilateral relations and the international agenda, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. US attempts to utilize misinformation in a bid to discredit Russian efforts complicate international cooperation on countering the global threat, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"It is regrettable that instead of cooperation with the international community in the fight against the pandemic the West and the US in particular only adds new irritants into both bilateral relations and the international agenda," she noted. "We call on Washington to review its approach, to reject the negative practices, which only deepen the global problem and we call for cooperation."

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 5,807,100 people have been infected worldwide and more than 357,800 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 2,510,300 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.