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President Xi Jinping says China stands ready to work with the international community to fight against the novel coronavirus.
He made the remarks in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Xi Jinping says China and Russia have been supporting each other in containing COVID-19.
He says China is willing to cooperate with Russia and all other countries to safeguard global public health security.
The Chinese president also calls for closer international cooperation in pandemic prevention and control, experience sharing on containment and treatment, as well as joint research.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the European Union is grateful for support from China amid the coronavirus outbreak.
She made the remarks shortly after a phone conversation with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
Von der Leyen says both sides agree that the fight against the coronavirus is a global one and mutual support is needed.
Premier Li says China stands firmly with Europe and supports its anti-epidemic efforts.
So far, nearly 100-thousand confirmed cases have been reported in Europe, with over 6-thousand having recovered so far.
Italy has more than 41 thousand Covid-19 infections.
Health officials say over 34 hundred people have died from the disease, making Italy the country to record the most deaths since the global pandemic began.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said the nationwide coronavirus lockdown will be extended beyond its initial April 3 deadline.
The White House has said the Group of Seven Summit will be canceled due to the coronavirus, and leaders will have a videoconference instead.
The summit was originally scheduled to take place at Camp David in June.
US officials say the move should enable each country to focus resources on responding to the health and economic challenges of COVID-19.
G7 leaders held a videoconference earlier this week and pledged to "use all policy tools" to forcefully address the economic impact of the outbreak.
The UN Secretary-General is calling for global solidarity to handle the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus.
Antonio Guterres says world leaders should offer an urgent and coordinated response to the crisis.
"We need to immediately move away from a situation where each country is undertaking its own health strategies to one that ensures, in full transparency, a coordinated global response, including helping countries that are less prepared to tackle the crisis."
The UN chief says governments must give the strongest support to the multilateral effort to battle COVID-19.
He says the health emergency sector can be one of the areas for action, as health systems are buckling under pressure even in the wealthiest countries.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he's confident Britain can turn the tide on the coronavirus within the next 12 weeks.
However, Johnson says they can only send the virus packing if people follow government advice.
"I believe that a combination of the measures that we're asking the public to take and better testing scientific progress will enable us to get on top of it within the next 12 weeks and turn the tide."
Johnson also said Britain may have to impose stricter measures in London where compliance to government advice has been patchy.
Britain is in talks to buy a coronavirus antibody test, with authorities vowing to ramp up nationwide testing.
The country has over 3,000 coronavirus cases so far.
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have enhanced cleaning work on their Long Island Railroad trains to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Long Island Railroad President Phil Eng says they're monitoring the situation and ready to react if necessary.
"Our goal is to be able to have enough service to ensure that our riders can get in the... the healthcare workers, the... the first responders, our transportation employees, all the people that need to do what we need to do to battle this virus. We want to make sure our mass transportation is available."
Eng says they will disinfect everything that passengers come in contact with most frequently, such as railings, seats and ticket machines.
They will also make sure that every train carriage is disinfected every 72 hours.
Iraqi forces have taken full control of a military base from the U.S.–led coalition in the western province of Anbar near the border with Syria.
The coalition handed over the base on Thursday as part of a process to withdraw from Iraq.
The Iraqi military says the handover ceremony happened after the international coalition withdrew with all of its military equipment.
Iraqi security commanders say that the withdrawal of international forces will not affect the security situation along the border with Syria.
Over 5,000 U.S. troops were deployed in Iraq to support Iraqi forces against the Islamic State.
