Latest on Coronavirus
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 985,000, over 32.3 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 22.3 million of those patients were cured, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from Federal and local authorities, media and other sources.
As of 20:00 GMT Friday, the number of cases globally is 32,381,243, including 985,104 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 7,015,242, including 203,329 fatalities and 2,710,183 recoveries.
Alexander Gintsburg, the director of Russia's Gamaleya Institute, which developed the first registered COVID-19 vaccine, told Sputnik that patients show adequate levels of antibodies after the first dose of the vaccine and that a second is needed for a more prolonged effect.
Russia and Iran are holding expert consultations on joint production of the COVID-19 vaccine and preparing to sign relevant documents soon, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said.
The World Health Organization has published draft criteria for the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Mariangela Simao, the WHO assistant director general for access to medicines and health products, said.
The European Union has been leading international cooperation efforts that have managed to raise almost 16 billion Euros ($18.5 billion) to facilitate development and distribution of medical treatments, vaccines and tests, necessary to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, European Council President Charles Michel said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government has entered into an agreement with British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to procure 20 million doses of its coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.
Countries where third phase human trials for the Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate are underway, Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey, will have access to it at the same time as China, according to Yin Weidong, CEO of developer SinoVac.
Participants in China's COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials retain a relatively high level of antibodies six months after inoculation, Zeng Guang, a leading epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
A Thai research institute has been discussing possible cooperation and the purchase of Russian COVID-19 vaccines with Russian developers, Thai Ambassador to Russia Thanatip Upatising told Sputnik.
The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the United States has risen from six to seven million in less than one month, the Johns Hopkins University tally revealed.
The recent rise in COVID-19 infections seen in Russia had been forecast, the health minister's aide, Alexey Kuznetsov, told Sputnik. An increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Moscow corresponds to the global trend for the COVID-19 resurgence, the capital's response center said.
Amid COVID-19 resurgence in the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a stay-at-home order for senior Muscovites and people with chronic diseases, appealed to employers to return more people to remote work and urged against abandoning masks.
Sobyanin also asked the city's companies to work from home as much as possible to avoid the spread of the coronavirus amid recent increase in cases.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that there were no additional coronavirus-related restrictions on the agenda despite the growing number of new infection cases.
CSA Czech Airlines plans to resume flights to Moscow starting from October 4, the carrier's spokeswoman, Vladimira Dufkova, told Sputnik.
Belarus may consider imposing a mandatory two-week quarantine for international arrivals, especially those from Western countries, due to the uptick in new COVID-19 cases seen over recent weeks, President Alexander Lukashenko said.
Local health authorities in Qingdao, a port city in eastern China's Shandong province, have placed 375 people under quarantine after two new cases of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections were discovered in the city, local health commission said.
Hundreds of restaurant and bar owners in the French city of Marseille have gathered on the streets to express discontent over the fresh state-backed restrictions imposed in the city in line with the recent resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases, which include the closures of bars and restaurants, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
The US state of Florida is lifting COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and entering the final phase of its recovery plan, Governor Ron De Santis said.
Israel's top COVID-19 policy advisor and the director general of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Ronni Gamzu, has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of tightening COVID-19 measures in an attempt to contain anti-government demonstrations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the European Union more determined to move toward a greener economy and society, European Council President Charles Michel told the 75th UN General Assembly.
The US government should stop blaming China for spreading the novel coronavirus and take responsibility for the way it handled the outbreak in the United States, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said.
The parade organizers of Rio de Janeiro's world-famous annual carnival have announced that they will postpone festivities, which were scheduled to take place this coming February, due to the coronavirus disease outbreak, the head of the Independent League of Samba Schools, Jorge Castanheira, said.
Michael Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health emergencies program, on Friday warned that unless countries step up the collective fight against COVID-19, the world could see another million deaths from the disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has promised that investment in the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, an international initiative to speed up production and distribution of equipment and materials necessary to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, will pay back in less than 36 hours after global trade is restored.
Dr. Edward Kelley, the WHO's director for integrated health services, on Friday stressed the need to concentrate on health care workers' safety and protection amid the COVID-19 crisis as they are the most vulnerable due to being on the frontline of the fight against the disease.