Turkey's Erdoğan speaks to 19 world leaders amid outbreak

Turkey's president spoke to 19 world leaders over the phone and joined three summits via teleconference since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives across the globe.

On Twitter, the Turkish Presidency shared information on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's contacts with the international community during the global outbreak.

According to the post, Erdoğan has held phone conversations with the top political figures of China, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ethiopia, Georgia, Japan, the US, Russia, France, Uzbekistan, Iran, Italy, Ecuador, Somalia, Canada, Germany and Qatar.

On March 17, Erdoğan held a quadrilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

On March 26, he participated in a virtual gathering of G20 leaders on the coronavirus.

He also attended an extraordinary videoconference summit of the Turkic Council on cooperation and solidarity against the virus on April 10.

As of Friday, Turkey registered nearly 105,000 cases of COVID-19, with the nationwide death toll at 2,600 and near 22,000 recoveries.

More than 2.78 million cases have been reported in 185 countries and regions since the virus emerged in China last December, with Europe and the US being the world's hardest-hit areas.

The global death toll is more than to 195,000 deaths, while recoveries are nearing 766,000, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.