G20 health ministers to hold online conference on coronavirus situation on April 19

"G20 Health Ministers will convene virtually on April 19 to address the impact of COVID-19 on the global health sector, and society," it reads. "G20 members will be joined by guest countries, and international and regional organizations including the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, The Global Fund, the United Nations Children's Fund, the International Telecommunication Union, GAVI, the Vaccine alliance and Unitaid."

Participants will discuss "delivering resilient healthcare and encouraging digital solutions for global coordination and prioritizing COVID-19 pandemic preparedness," it says.

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 1,800,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 114,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 428,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 18,328 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,470 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 148 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.