WEB DESK
US President Donald Trump has scrapped this year’s in-person G7 summit set to be held in the US from June 10th to 12th due to the COVID 19 outbreak. The White House said in a statement that he will instead hold the event through video-conference.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said that the summit was cancelled in order for each country to focus all of its resources on responding to the health and economic challenges of COVID-19. Mr. Deere added that in order to continue close coordination, the President will convene the G7 leaders via video teleconference.
The US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom are members of the G7. The leaders of the seven countries held a video conference earlier this week to discuss the COVID 19 pandemic. In a joint statement, after the video-conference, leaders of G7 acknowledged that infection was a human tragedy and a global health crisis, posing major risks for the world economy.
They added that they were committed to doing whatever is necessary to ensure a strong global response through closer cooperation and enhanced coordination of our efforts. Over 9800 people, including 218 people from the US, have died due to the pandemic globally. More than 14,200 confirmed infected cases have been reported in the US.