Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th November, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.321 million, over 54.7 million cases of infection were detected, and over 35.1 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 19:40 GMT Monday, the number of cases globally is 54,714,076, including 1,321,712 fatalities.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 11,114,151, including 246,684 fatalities and 4,185,463 recoveries.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he had reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin on building in Kazakhstan a plant where the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 would be produced.

US biotech firm Moderna said that its mRNA-based candidate vaccine against COVID-19 had proven to be 94.5 percent effective in phase three clinical trials.

The UK government said it was in advanced discussions to get access to the COVID-19 vaccine candidate being developed by Moderna.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will wait to receive the final safety and efficacy data from US biotech firm Moderna regarding its vaccine against the coronavirus disease, the organization's chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said.

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is planning to make its COVID-19 vaccine available by June 2021, the company's CEO in France, Olivier Bogillot, told CNEWS.

Malaysia hopes to receive the best COVID-19 vaccines developed across the world soon, including the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, and start vaccinating the population in the first and second quarters of 2021, Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba said.

The COVAX facility, a vaccine procurement mechanism, coordinated by global health public-private partnership Gavi and the World Health Organization, is negotiating with manufacturers of several COVID-19 vaccine candidates, the WHO's Swaminathan said.

Russia has registered a new single-day record of 22,778 COVID-19 cases, up from 22,572 yesterday, bringing the total to 1,948,603, the federal response center said.

The World Health Organization is concerned about surging COVID-19 cases in various countries, especially in Europe and the Americas, despite encouraging news about coronavirus vaccines, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

There were a total or 65 COVID-19 cases among the World Health Organization's headquarters staff in Geneva this year, including 36 among staff working directly in the organization's premises, the technical lead on COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, confirmed.

France's efforts to curb the second coronavirus outbreak have shown results, but it is too early to talk about victory over the pandemic, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

The United Kingdom's Northern Ireland is likely to tighten restrictions against the spread of COVID-19 in December ahead of Christmas due to the complicated epidemiological situation, the regional chief medical officer, Michael McBride, said.

The government of the Czech Republic backed the health ministry's proposal to extend the state of emergency over COVID-19 until December 20 and requested that parliament approve the decision, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said.

Governors of US states of Washington in the northwest and Michigan in northeast have imposed new severe restrictions in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with the focus specifically on indoor gathering recommendations.

The city of Philadelphia is imposing sweeping restrictions to public activity, including moving high school and college instruction online and curbing indoor dining at restaurants, to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, Health Commissioner Tom Farley said.

The US state of New Jersey is limiting indoor gatherings to 10 people and outdoor gatherings to 150 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Governor Phil Murphy said.

The US state of New Mexico has re-imposed the strictest public health restrictions in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, including for residents to shelter in place, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said.

Starting Tuesday, the Australian state of South Australia will be enforcing new restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19, which will last for about two weeks, Premier Steven Marshall said.

As a result of certain socioeconomic problems, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian youngsters are drawn in the drug business, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.

The UK government has announced a further 12.2 million Pounds ($16.1 million) in funding for the research of the SARS-CoV-2 virus' genome structure in an effort to prevent the future spread of COVID-19, according to a press release published by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The United Kingdom will open two "mega" laboratories in 2021 in an effort to boost the country's diagnostic capacity and help the nation to properly respond to future epidemics, the UK government announced.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will cover all costs associated with the vaccination against COVID-19 of the participants of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, IOC President Thomas Bach said.

A two-day session of the European Business Summit (EBS) held in the format of a video conference started in Brussels, with its participants focusing on the world economic recovery in light of the coronavirus pandemic and the transition to a "green" economy.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called on the international community to enact measures to protect the world's cultural heritage amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic.