President Xi Jinping will preside over a special summit on Africa and China's joint fight against COVID-19 on Wednesday and will deliver a keynote speech, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

The summit was jointly initiated by China, South Africa, the rotating presidency of the African Union, and Senegal, co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and will be held via video link, Hua said.

Key leaders from African countries will attend the summit, she said, adding United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will also participate.