Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump on Wednesday held a telephonic conversation to discuss the challenges being faced by the international community due to the coronavirus pandemic, its implications on global economy, and ways to mitigate its impact, according to the report.

During a conversation, the two leaders also exchanged views on regional issues and further strengthening of Pakistan-US cooperation, The Express Tribune quoted Aisha Frooqui, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying in a statement.

PM Khan conveyed sympathies and condolences on the loss of thousands of lives in the US due to deadly disease.

The premier also highlighted Pakistan’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus and emphasised that the country was facing a dual challenge of overcoming the pandemic and saving people, particularly the most vulnerable segments of the population, from hunger due to lockdown.

While thanking President Trump for the US support in the IMF and other fora, Prime Minister Khan said that it would provide necessary fiscal space to Pakistan and help in mitigating the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the statement said.

Earlier, Pakistan extended the ongoing lockdown until the end of this month to fight the pandemic.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the phone and discussed the recent situation related to the spread of the deadly virus.

On Wednesday, the United States has recorded 1,738 deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, a lower toll than the day before, according to a running tally by John Hopkins University.

The new deaths bring the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in the US to 46,583 since the outbreak began there, by far the highest figures recorded by any country caught in the global pandemic.

More than 1,80,000 people in the world have died from the novel coronavirus, nearly two-thirds of them in Europe, since it emerged in China last December, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.

In total, 1,80,289 deaths have been recorded worldwide for 2,596,383 infections, according to the tally. There were 1,12,848 deaths in Europe for 1,263,802 cases on the hardest-hit continent.