MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer discussed over the phone practical steps aimed at overcoming the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday.
"[The parties] discussed interaction in the fight against the spread of coronavirus and practical measures to overcome the humanitarian aftermath of the pandemic," the Foreign Ministry said.
Lavrov and Maurer also exchanged views on crises in various regions of the world, in particular, on assistance to civilians in southeastern Ukraine and Syria.
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 3,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 211,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 923,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
