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People wear protective face masks as they ride on their motorbikes outside a market in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: EPA

Published: 12:47am, 20 Mar 2020Updated: 11:19pm, 20 Mar 2020

Leaders from around the world on Friday continued to wrestle with the implications of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

In Singapore, the government expanded its advice on social distancing to suspend all gatherings of 250 people or more. In Indonesia, the capital city of Jakarta declared a state of emergency.

The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan held a video conference to discuss cooperation to reduce the number of infected people arriving in their countries from overseas.

“This issue has a direct impact on the lives of the three nations’ citizens,” South Korean minister Kang Kyung-wha said as the meeting kicked off.

“I think the three countries need to work together to contain the spread of the coronavirus and minimise any resulting reduction on exchanges and cooperation between the peoples, as well as its economic and social impact.”

South Korea’s government said it will conduct a coronavirus check on all travellers from Europe and impose a two-week mandatory quarantine for those who will stay for a long term, starting on Sunday.

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