MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.171 million, over 44.3 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 29.9 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 20:00 GMT Wednesday, the number of cases globally is 44,304,816, including 1,171,119 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 8,833,396, including 227,320 fatalities and 3,487,666 recoveries.
Some volunteers taking part in the post-registration clinical trials of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V have tested positive for COVID-19 but they could have received placebo, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya research institute that developed the vaccine, told Sputnik.
European Council President Charles Michel expressed hope that three or four vaccines against the coronavirus will hopefully be available in the European Union by the end of the year or at the beginning of 2021.
The Dr Reddy's Laboratories pharmaceutical company, which was just given a green light to begin trials of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 in India, said that its IT systems had been attacked by hackers earlier in the month, possibly resulting in a breach of personal data.
The US has begun drafting a strategy to provide a future COVID-19 vaccine to other nations, US Agency for International Development (USAID) acting Administrator John Barsa told virtual guests at the American Enterprise Institute.
Spain's tuberculosis vaccine will be tested for protecting against the novel coronavirus during clinical trials in Argentina, the Efe news agency reported.
The Cuban regulatory agency has approved Phase 1 of clinical trials of the second Cuban vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Soberana 02, the vaccine's developer, Finlay Institute, said on Twitter.
The Ecuadorian government will need almost $150 million to purchase vaccines against COVID-19, Health Vice Minister of Ecuador Xavier Solorzano said.
The coronavirus incidence in Germany is very high, and if this continues, the healthcare system will reach its limits in a few weeks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Sweden has registered 1,980 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, which is an all-time record for the lockdown-free country, the Public Health Agency reported.
German virologists fail to determine when and how a patient contracted the coronavirus in 80 percent of all cases, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said.
Germany rolls out "limited quarantine" due to the coronavirus pandemic from Monday, November 2, until the end of November, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference in Berlin following an online meeting with heads of federal states on countering COVID-19. Theaters, cinemas, fitness centers, brothels, beauty salons, hotels and catering will temporarily close, with the exception of the catering services in takeaway mode and canteens.
The self-isolation regime across France will be introduced on October 30 and will last until December 1 amid the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address to the nation.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that if the current coronavirus response measures were not observed, the country risked facing the need to introduce a general quarantine.
The UK county of Nottinghamshire is set to enter tier three, or alert level very high, of England's three-tiered COVID-19 system on Friday as the authorities look to curb a rapid rise in new cases of the disease in the region, according to domestic media reports.
Switzerland has imposed an indefinite curfew on bars and restaurants from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting October 29 amid a COVID-19 resurgence, the government said.
The Ukrainian cabinet extended the pandemic-induced state of emergency in the country until December 31.
The government of Thailand has approved the Thai COVID-19 response center's decision to extend the state of emergency until the end of November due to the continuously unfavorable epidemiological environment, Deputy Government Spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek said.
Germany's Robert Koch Institute, which is in charge of keeping national count of COVID-19 cases, was hit by a DDoS attack on October 22, the Federal Information Technology Center (ITZBund)'s spokesman confirmed to Sputnik.
Regular medical services have been partially suspended in the Belarusian capital to concentrate the workforce on tackling the coronavirus-related needs, Dmitry Cherednichenko, the deputy head of the Health Committee of Minsk City Executive Committee, said.
The Kremlin does not currently see any need to provide financial support to Russian enterprises, as the economy keeps operating despite the coronavirus pandemic, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Germany will compensate up to 75 percent of income lost due to coronavirus-related restrictions to enterprises with 50 or less employees during the upcoming "light quarantine" from November 2 to 30, Chancellor Angela Merkel said. The German government will allocate a total of 10 billion Euros ($11.75 billion) to support companies, which will close from November 2 for a month due to coronavirus-related restrictions, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the European Union would allocate 100 million euros ($117 million) to purchase coronavirus express tests.
Coronavirus-related misinformation and disinformation are harming efforts to curb the spread of the disease in "crisis-affected states" such as El Salvador and Afghanistan, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a prominent US-based humanitarian organization, said.
