MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.203 million, over 46.7 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 31.1 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 Monday, the number of cases globally is 46,734,454, including 1,203,494 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 9,240,261, including 231,181 fatalities and 3,630,627 recoveries.
First volunteers participating in post-registration trials of Russia's second registered vaccine EpiVacCorona will be inoculated in November, Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor told Sputnik.
Mass vaccination against coronavirus infection with EpiVacCorona will begin in 2021, Rinat Maksyutov, the head of the Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector, which developed the vaccine, said.
Egypt is very interested in Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V and is in talks with Russia about potential deliveries, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.
South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare said it had signed a deal with two subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson to begin the manufacture of the multinational firm's candidate vaccine against the coronavirus disease.
Anna Popova, the head of Russia's consumer health watchdog, told a meeting of the Presidium of the Government Coordination Council that 90 percent of Russian citizens who imported COVID-19 infections into the country had arrived from Turkey, adding that immediate measures be taken to remedy the situation.
Iran has registered a record high of 440 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadar Lari said.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he would self-quarantine following a contact with a person who had tested positive for COVID-19. According to the official, he is "well and without symptoms." The WHO has registered no cases of coronavirus transmissions on the premises, the technical lead on COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said after the director-general had gone into self-quarantine.
The second UK lockdown is necessary to ease the burden on the National Health Service (NHS), because without it, deaths may go up to 4,000 a day, stressing the healthcare system, NHS Test and Trace chief medical adviser Susan Hopkins said.
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer said that his party will vote in support of reintroducing a nationwide lockdown in England in order to curb the second wave of COVID-19.
UK epidemiologist Andrew Hayward said that if the government had followed scientists' recommendations to impose a two-week national lockdown during school half term at the end of October, "thousands of lives" would have been saved from COVID-19.
The Italian government is mulling additional anti-COVID-19 measures that envisage shutting down of shopping malls on non-working days, the closure of exhibitions and museums, as well as limiting the allowed number of passengers in public transport by half, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in his address to the Chamber of Deputies.
The Council of Ministers of Italy is considering to impose a nationwide 9 p.m. (20:00 GMT) curfew following an agreement reached by the government and local authorities, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.
The Community of Madrid has imposed coronavirus measures in three new zones in the districts of Majadahonda and Coslada, bringing the total number of zones with movement restrictions to 35, Spanish daily Mundo reported.
Greece is introducing a two-week lockdown in Thessaloniki and the northern city of Serres to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said.
The Jordanian government has decided to impose a night curfew from November 10, when the results of the parliamentary elections will be announced, due to a surge in COVID-19 contagion in the kingdom, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh said.
Russian cancer patients are complaining of�difficulty receiving routine medical check-ups and the lack of beds amid the surge of coronavirus infections in the country, Ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova told Sputnik.
The director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Carolyn Fairbairn, said that the new COVID-19 national lockdown, which will be effective in England starting Thursday, would have a "devastating" impact on UK businesses.
Social distancing measures enforced across the world to combat the coronavirus disease may help countries in the northern hemisphere limit the spread of influenza, although it is still unclear how the upcoming flu season will unfold, Maria van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization (WHO), said.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he would seek the expulsion of students of the police academy in the southern city of Nimes who organized an illicit party after curfew hours on the eve of another nationwide lockdown.
The French government may need to implement additional stimulus in order to face the economic fallout of a second COVID-19 wave, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
The Israeli Health Ministry announced the creation of a new technology that can halve time for the obtaining of a PCR test result for detecting COVID-19 from eight to four hours.
