G20 to hold Virtual Summit on Covid-19 on March 26

The Saudi G20 Presidency has slated March 26 to host a virtual summit to be chaired by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The extraordinary virtual Leaders’ Summit is to ‘advance’ a concerted global response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its human and economic implications.

G20 members will be joined by leaders invited from countries, such as Spain, Jordan, Singapore, and Switzerland, as well as international organisations such as United Nations, World Bank Group, the World Health Organisation, World Trade Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Financial Stability Board, the International Labour Organisation, International Monetary Fund, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, it announced on March 24.

Regional organisations will be represented by Vietnam – chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Africa – chair of the African Union (AU), the United Arab Emirates – chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Rwanda – chair of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The Covid-19 pandemic, that reportedly broke out in a live food market in China’s Hubei province and first appeared in humans late last year, has spread to over 186 countries, territories or areas, and has since impacted over 420,000 people, claiming 19,000 lives.

On March 24, Saudi confirmed the death of a Madinah resident as its first Covid-19 fatality, while the number of those infected in the kingdom has now reached 767.

Read: Covid-19: Saudi Arabia reports first death, 205 new cases

In a bid to try and spread the halt of the contagion, Saudi Arabia imposed an evening curfew for 21 days starting Monday, March 23.

Read more: Saudi, Kuwait impose evening curfews to limit spread of Covid-19

The curfew will be in effect from 7pm until 6am.