MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.177 million, almost 44.8 million cases of infection were detected, and over 30.1 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 44,780,568, including 1,177,538 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 8,905,868, including 228,194 fatalities and 3,518,140 recoveries.
Russia is ready to ensure the sale of intellectual property rights for its coronavirus vaccines and make them at the production sites of foreign partners, President Vladimir Putin said.
Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories announced its partnership with Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under the Indian government's Biotechnology Department to conduct trials of Sputnik V, Russia's first registered vaccine against COVID-19, in India.
The trials of Sputnik V continue, the head of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Alexander Gintsburg, told Sputnik on Thursday, commenting on media reports that trials were suspended.
A mass vaccination campaign can fundamentally affect the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and decrease the risk of the third wave, Vladimir Chulanov, the chief infectiology official in the Russian Health Ministry, told Sputnik.
Mass vaccination of residents of the Moscow Region against the coronavirus will begin in January, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said.
Russian pharmaceutical company Promomed that developed the coronavirus drug, dubbed Areplivir, said it was ready to distribute the vaccine across the country through regional ministries of health.
Russian doctors working in the so-called coronavirus red zones in hospitals who subsequently test positive for the disease can expect to receive a free course of Areplivir, Promomed also said.
Europe has registered its highest weekly spike in new COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic as 1.5 million new positive tests have been registered over the past seven days, taking the region's case total past 10 million, Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Europe, said.
Russia has registered a new record single-day increase of 17,717 COVID-19 cases, up from 16,202 yesterday, taking the cumulative total to 1,581,693, the country's coronavirus response center said.
The increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in Russia may come to an end within three weeks, Vladimir Chulanov, the chief infectiology official in the Russian Health Ministry, told Sputnik.
Germany has also confirmed 16,774 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since the start of the outbreak, with the total count reaching 481,013, the Robert Koch Institute said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic will be tougher and more deadly than the spring outbreak, as the disease continues to circulate widely across French mainland.
Russia does not plan introducing a nationwide lockdown amid a surge in coronavirus infections, as the government has a perfect understanding of what steps have to be taken, President Vladimir Putin said.
The Spanish parliament has approved the extension of the high alert regime over the coronavirus pandemic for six months until May.
The Spanish authorities have restricted movement in the regions of Andalusia, Castile-La-Mancha, Castile and Leon and Murcia due to the worsening epidemiological situation amid the pandemic, according to the regional governments.
Due to the epidemiological situation in neighboring countries, Belarus has temporarily restricted entry for a number of categories of individuals from Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia via ground checkpoints starting Thursday, Anton Bychkovsky, spokesman for the Belarusian State Border Committee, told Sputnik.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that he would announce the new measures to combat the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic later this week.
The Freedom of Austria party is urging the country's government to reduce the quarantine period for individuals who are believed to have come into contact with someone infected with the coronavirus disease to just five days, Roman Haider, a member of the European Parliament representing the party, told Sputnik, adding that the government should also stop mass asymptomatic testing.
The Israeli cabinet approved extending the coronavirus state of emergency until January 3, 2021, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Colombia will extend the selective isolation to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic until November 30, Colombian President Ivan Duque stated.
The economy of the Western African nation of Nigeria would not endure another nationwide lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic, thus it must be avoided at all costs, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said.
The Russian economy will see a 4 percent decline in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which is less dramatic than the dynamics in other countries, President Vladimir Putin said.
In-person meetings at the United Nations headquarters in New York are expected to resume next week after they were canceled on Tuesday because five diplomats tested positive for the novel coronavirus, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
ExxonMobil expects to shed nearly 2,000 jobs, mainly at its offices in Houston, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to alter the operations of the US oil giant.
Disneyland Paris closed again, barely four months after reopening, as authorities struggle to contain a second wave of COVID-19 infections by imposing new restrictions.
Damage to the Italian economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic may be higher than the Italian share of the EU Recovery Fund, which is why reforms apart from investments in development projects will be needed to lead the country out of the decline, Vice President of Confindustria (Confederation of Italian Industry) Barbara Beltrame told Sputnik in an interview.
European Council President Charles Michel has called for a consensus on common rules for self-isolation and quarantine in the European Union amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic but member states still respond to the health crisis in completely different ways.
The UK government's package of economic support measures enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic to date is one of the best examples of coordinated action seen across the globe to prevent a surge in unemployment and corporate insolvencies, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the finance ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia discussed the economic response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Treasury Department said in a readout of the discussion.
