MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 948,000, almost 30.3 million cases of infection were detected, and over 20.6 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 Friday, the number of cases globally is 30,297,368, including 948,058 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 6,696,621, including 198,114 fatalities and 2,540,334 recoveries.
Medical journal The Lancet, has on Friday published correspondence authored by four Russian researchers at the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, which was written in response to an appeal made by global scientists for clarification on issues raised over the clinical trial results of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19.
Antibodies for COVID-19 can remain in the blood of a person who has been cured of the disease for another four months, according to research by the Danderyd Hospital in Stockholm.
Argentina has expressed interest in importing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus disease, the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor), said.
Russian pharmaceutical company Promomed is in talks with neighboring countries, Latin America, and Africa to supply them with Areplivir drug that can help in the COVID-19 treatment, the director general of the company, Andrey Mladentsev, told Sputnik.
China is leading in the development of a vaccine against COVID-19 and thus Beijing does not need to steal vaccine-related data from other countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, commenting on media reports claiming that Chinese hackers had allegedly stolen data on coronavirus vaccine development from Spain.
China is conducting clinical trials of 11 vaccines against the coronavirus disease, four of which are in phase 3, the country's Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang said
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief thanked the United Kingdom, Egypt and Indonesia for joining the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility).
There are about 22 stable mutations in the genetic makeup of the coronavirus detected worldwide, with two of them being the most resistant, Russia's consumer rights and human welfare watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, told Sputnik, adding that there were thousands of COVID-19 genetic mutations.
The decrease in the mortality rate of COVID-19 from 7.2 to 3.2 percent as well as the increasing transmissibility of the disease show that the coronavirus is adapting to the human population and may become a seasonal illness, Rospotrebnadzor told Sputnik
India has confirmed 97,894 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours marking the daily increase of more than 90,000 cases for the third day in a row, with the total number of those infected having reached 5,214,677, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
France's COVID-19 case total has jumped by a single-day record of 13,215 on Friday, the country's Public Health Agency said.
The increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the Czech Republic over the past day was equivalent to the entire toll of cases detected in March, the Czech Ministry of Health said.
Russia will resume flights with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus from September 21, the country's coronavirus response center said. Russia will also resume flights with South Korea from September 27 and will also stop all evacuation flights on September 21, it said.
The United Kingdom is currently experiencing the start of the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, hinting that tougher social distancing restrictions could be introduced.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned that tougher social distancing measures could be introduced in the country over the coming days amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases.
A second coronavirus-related lockdown took effect in Israel on Friday for a period of three weeks with a possibility of extension, marking the first case when a country locks down due to COVID-19 for a second time.
The Turkish government should take new restrictive measures as the country is seeing soaring cases of COVID-19, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The South Korean authorities and the country's religious community are discussing the possibility of relaxing restrictions on in-person services, which were halted due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The decline in Russia's GDP in August slowed down to 4.3 percent year-on-year after falling by 4.6 percent in July; in January-August, the decline is estimated at 3.6 percent, the Economic Development Ministry said in its fresh report.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed belief that Russia's economy relief measures implemented during the coronavirus pandemic were quite efficient, especially compared to the steps taken in Europe and the United States.
Only an estimated six percent of the UK population has antibodies for the coronavirus disease, the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said at a meeting earlier in September, the minutes of which were published on Friday.
