MANILA - China will be sending medical supplies and health experts to the Philippines to help combat the novel coronavirus, Beijing said Sunday.

In a tweet, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi already communicated with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to assure assistance is on the way.

"We feel the same as the Philippine people are going through difficult times. We will do our utmost to help," Hua said.

"Medical supplies and experts will soon go to the Philippines," she added.

As of Sunday, the Philippines has recorded 140 cases of COVID-19, with 11 deaths.

The coronavirus, which emerged in China last December, has infected more than 142,000 people worldwide, as of March 14, according to data of the World Health Organization.

Nearly 3,200 people have died due to the disease, more than half of whom came from China.

Last week, WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic after it continued to wreak havoc across the world since its outbreak in Wuhan, China in last January.

-- With a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News