MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 827,000, almost 24.3 million cases of infection were detected, and over 15.8 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 19:30 GMT Thursday, the number of cases globally is 24,271,466, including 827,670 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 5,846,591, including 180,249 fatalities and 2,084,465 recoveries.
Russia will be done with the development of a second vaccine against the coronavirus next month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, going on to express certainty in the coming vaccine's success. Putin also said that his daughter had developed COVID-19 antibodies after receiving the Russian-made vaccine.
Eight Russian regions have developed herd immunity against the coronavirus, with the share of covered population exceeding 25 percent, Putin also said.
Attempts to reach herd immunity naturally would be dangerous and fraught with scores of deaths, while vaccination is a safer and more effective path, Maria van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO), said.
The Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza in Russia's St. Petersburg plans to start trials of China's COVID-19 vaccine on volunteers in the second half of September, the institute's acting director, Dmitry Lioznov, said.
Virologists at the Moscow State University (MSU) are studying the efficacy of developing a seasonal vaccine to battle both COVID-19 and the flu simultaneously, Professor Olga Karpova, the head of the Virology Department of the Biological Faculty at the MSU, told Sputnik.
France reported 6,111 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, a post-lockdown record rise and the second-highest level since the pandemic started, the French Public Health Agency (DGS) said.
Three more vaccines against the coronavirus are currently in the process of registration in Russia, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.
More than 60 percent of Russians prefer a domestic vaccine against COVID-19 over a foreign one, a poll by the country's Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) showed.
The German authorities decided to introduce an obligatory five-day quarantine for people entering the country from the regions with high COVID-19 risks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. They also extended ban on all large public events until the end of the year, Merkel said.
The United Kingdom is adding Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Jamaica to a coronavirus quarantine list, meaning that travelers from these countries would need to be isolated for two weeks upon arrival to the UK, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said.
Russia's gross domestic product will contract by 5-6 percent after the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Many countries have expressed their interest in the opportunity to participate in the international mission to China aimed at investigating the origins of coronavirus, Michael Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health emergencies program, said.
Russian health care facilities are prepared for the second wave of COVID-19 infections, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.
Russia has sent 500 coronavirus test kits and reagents to Peru, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The French government has prepared lockdown strategies for both local and national levels in the wake of a recent COVID-19 resurgence in the country, but will try its best to prevent a second nationwide self-isolation regime, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said.
The UK government announced that people with low incomes living in areas with a high incidence of COVID-19 will be paid if they need to self-isolate and are unable to work from home.
Moscow Region's Krasnogorsky Zavod (KMZ) has presented Russia's first device for detecting viruses, including COVID-19, in the air, at the Army 2020 forum, Alexander Novikov, the plant's general director, told Sputnik.
