The Turkish President has spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart in a phone call held to discuss cooperation between the two Black Sea nations in the fight against the novel coronavirus, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Volodymyr Zelensky also discussed bilateral relations and regional issues said the Turkish Communications Directorate.

Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil, and Russia are currently the countries hardest hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed nearly 478,300 people worldwide, with over 9.29 million confirmed cases and more than 4.66 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.