Turkish, S. Korean leaders discuss coronavirus

ISTANBUL

Turkish president on Tuesday held a telephonic conversation with his South Korean counterpart to discuss cooperation in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Moon Jae-in also discussed bilateral relations, the Turkish Presidency said in a brief statement on Twitter.

While South Korea is battling a second wave of the virus after easing restrictions in May, Turkey lifted its partial lockdown on June 1 and is moving towards full normalization.

Since originating in China last December, the pandemic has claimed nearly 473,000 lives in 188 countries and regions, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The US, Brazil, Russia and India are currently the worst-hit countries.

Some 9.12 million cases have been reported worldwide, while 4.55 million have recovered.