G20 health ministers hold virtual meeting on coronavirus

Health ministers from the Group of 20 major economies held a virtual meeting on Sunday to work on a joint response to the coronavirus pandemic and will issue a statement, the G20 said in a separate statement.

It said a planned virtual news conference was cancelled as the health minister of Saudi Arabia, the current G20 chair, had to attend “an urgent COVID-19 KSA (Saudi) taskforce meeting”.

The Saudi minister had delivered the opening remarks of the meeting, according to a video provided to media.

Member countries will be joined by leaders from Spain, Singapore, Jordan and Switzerland as well as international and regional organisations including the World Health Organization and the World Bank, an earlier G20 statement said.