MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.025 million, over 34.4 million cases of infection were detected, and over 23.9 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 34,429,410, including 1,025,075 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 7,303,914, including 208,304 fatalities and 2,860,650 recoveries.
US President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Thursday night that he and his wife Melania had tested positive for the novel coronavirus after one of his aides, Hope Hicks, contracted the disease earlier. Trump has very mild symptoms after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said. First Lady Melania Trump said that she was experiencing mild symptoms. US Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials tested negative for COVID-19. Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, have also tested negative for COVID-19.
Trump's rival, US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, has tested negative for the novel coronavirus, his physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor said in a statement.
Biden, as well as a number of world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have wished the Trumps a speedy recovery.
Alexander Gintsburg, the head of Russia's Gamaleya research center, which developed the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, suggested, in a conversation with Sputnik, that the US Administration should use the Russian vaccine.
The first batch of the Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine Sputnik-V has arrived in Venezuela, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) confirmed the delivery. Vaccination of volunteers in Venezuela will begin in coming days as part of double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine, the RDIF said.
Post-registration trials of Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which have begun in Belarus as well, are showing encouraging results, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.
Two thousand people will take part in the third phase of trials of Russian anti-coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in Venezuela, it will begin in the coming days, the country's health minister Carlos Alvarado told the VTV broadcaster.
Laos highly values Russia's efforts to develop the COVID-19 vaccine and is discussing possible cooperation in this area, Lao Ambassador to Russia Shiviengphet Phetvorasack told Sputnik in an interview.
The Canadian government will begin reviewing a COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca to ensure it meets rigorous safety standards, the Public Health Agency said.
Less than two out of five Canadians say they would immediately get immunized against the novel coronavirus when a vaccine becomes available, an Angus Reid Institute poll revealed.
To date, 168 countries have joined the World Health Organization-led COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility) and 25 vowed to follow suit soon, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
World Health Organization officials said that the WHO would look into reports of acute kidney injury in some COVID-19 patients who were taking remdesivir, a drug developed to treat severe coronavirus infection symptoms by US company Gilead Sciences and already approved for use in the European Union.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is working with Russian partners to help deliver its COVID-19 vaccine to Russia and other countries, Olzhas Satybaldin, the government affairs head at the UK-Swedish drugmaker's Eurasia division, said.
The African Regional Expert Committee on Traditional Medicine for COVID-19 will gather soon to pick the most promising herbal medicine products against the disease, which under the newly adopted protocol put forth by the World Health Organization (WHO), could be given the green light for phase 3 clinical trials, Dr. Jean-Baptiste Nikiema of the WHO Africa region told Sputnik.
The Russian government is not currently discussing introduction of any severe COVID-19 restrictions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday amid a spike in coronavirus infections.
One-half of the Moscow government staffers will start working from home on October 5, Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy Vladimir Efimov told Sputnik in an interview.
Around 2 million people in Moscow will begin to work from home starting from Monday amid the increasing number of new COVID-19 cases in the city, Efimov also said.
The United Kingdom's Home Office has been accused of flouting COVID-19 restriction rules by transporting dozens of asylum-seekers across the country despite suspicion of infection, The Guardian has learned.
The Moscow city government is working extensively to support domestic and international businesses that operate in the Russian capital during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Sergey Cheremin, the head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow, said.
