PM Modi discusses health, economic challenges of COVID-19 with Japan's Abe

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a telephonic conversation with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to discuss global health and economic challenges emerging out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the leaders jointly-expressed their appreciation for the support and facilitation provided during the present crisis to each other's citizens present in their respective territories and agreed to continue such coordination, as per the official government release.

Prime Minister Modi also wrote about the conversation on Twitter, "Had a fruitful discussion with my friend, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe about COVID19. India-Japan Special Strategic & Global Partnership can help develop new technologies and solutions for the post-COVID world - for our peoples, for the Indo-Pacific region, and for the world."

Prime Minister Abe this week declared a state of emergency in Japan in view of surging coronavirus cases.

Urban cities like Tokyo and Osaka have become the hotspots of the coronavirus cases in the country.

While announcing the emergency Abe said, "The number of patients is soaring, particularly in urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka. The number of available beds for treatment is clearly approaching the limit. With the increasingly heavy burden on healthcare workers, both physically and mentally, medical sites are truly in a critical situation. In the current situation, we have not reached a state of a rapid and nationwide spread of the virus."

Japan has so far reported 5,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 99 deaths. 685 people have recovered in the country.