Turkish, Russian top diplomats discuss pandemic

By Omer Tugrul Cam

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish and Russian top diplomats held a phone call to discuss the latest developments on the novel coronavirus outbreak, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov also addressed tourism and regional issues, the sources added.

As of Tuesday, Turkey reported a total of 151,615 coronavirus cases, including 4,199 deaths and 112,895 recoveries.

The total number of coronavirus cases in Russia exceeded the 300,000 mark on Wednesday, according to the emergency task force. The country's death toll from the disease climbed to 2,972 and the total number of recoveries reached 85,392.

Despite strict measures, which include the lockdown of the capital Moscow, ban for entry of foreigners and stateless people, and suspension of international air and railway traffic, Russia follows the US as the second-worst coronavirus-hit country in terms of the number of cases.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 188 countries and regions. Europe and the US are currently the worst-hit.

The pandemic has killed more than 323,700 people worldwide with over 4.91 million confirmed cases, while recoveries have surpassed 1.7 million.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev