ASEAN ministers to hold special video meeting on coronavirus next Tuesday

Southeast Asian ministers will hold a special video conference on April 14 to discuss how to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Vietnam's foreign ministry said on Thursday. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 15,000 people and killed 548 across the Southeast Asian region.

"The event will demonstrate the determination of the ASEAN in preventing and fighting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic," said Nguyen Quoc Dung, deputy foreign minister of Vietnam, which is chairing the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year. "ASEAN has also planned to set up a fund, a medical supply storage and a public medical network to jointly combat the pandemic," Dung added.

Vietnam earlier said ASEAN's 36th summit had been rescheduled from April to end-June due to worries about the spread of the coronavirus.