MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.404 million, over 59.5 million cases of infection were detected, and over 38 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 Tuesday, the number of cases globally is 59,539,267, including 1,404,755 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 12,501,643, including 258,827 fatalities and 4,633,600 recoveries.
The efficacy of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is 91.4 percent, based on the second interim analysis of data obtained 28 days after the injection of the first dose of the two-component vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has applied to a European regulator to register the Sputnik V vaccine and is not ruling out that its production could be set up in Germany, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.
Over 117,000 doses of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V have been already released into the market, and there are plans to produce over 2 million doses by the end of the year, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.
The United Nations is still holding discussions and looking at the relevant data regarding the Russian offer to provide the world body's staff its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Russia will add coronavirus vaccines to an updated list of essential medicines next month to ensure they are readily available at all times.
Coronavirus vaccination with the Sputnik V vaccine will be free of charge for the Russian citizens, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) confirmed.
South Sudan has filed an official request to acquire Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, the country's ambassador to Russia, Chol Tong Mayay Jang, said in an interview with Sputnik, stressing the African nation's great interest in the vaccine.
The European Commission is set to approve a deal with US company Moderna on Wednesday to supply the European Union member states with 160 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine and plans to sign another contract in the quest for the most "comprehensive vaccine portfolios," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
The coronavirus vaccination in Austria will start in January, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said.
Ecuador intends to begin vaccinating people against the novel coronavirus disease in January 2021, President Lenin Moreno said.
The Japanese Health Ministry will look to publish information regarding the safety and efficacy of multiple vaccines against the coronavirus disease in order to give citizens some degree of choice about which one they will be inoculated with, a ministry official said, as cited by the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
The South Korean food and Drug Safety Ministry has greenlighted clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine and treatment candidates that are currently being developed by the country's two drug manufacturers, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing industry officials.
Iran's capacity of producing vaccines against the coronavirus exceeds that of most other countries in the middle East and Western Asia, the Mehr News Agency reported, citing an Iranian health official.
Spanish pharmaceutical group PharmaMar announced the launch of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that can detect and distinguish COVID-19, influenza A and B from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the company said.
Russia has registered 24,326 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from the record 25,173 the day before, bringing the total to 2,138,828, the federal response center said. The situation with the coronavirus in Russia has somewhat stabilized, but preventive measures cannot be eased, chief public health official Anna Popova said.
The number of new cases of COVID-19 in France has dropped significantly recently, the peak of the second wave of the epidemic has been overcome, French President Emmanuel Macron said in his televised address to the nation.
France's coronavirus death toll rose past 50,000 on Tuesday after another 458 patients died in hospitals in the past day, according to figures shared by the public health agency. The country recorded 9,155 new infections in the past 24 hours, in what is a marked decrease from over 45,000 cases reported exactly a week ago.
The coronavirus infection rate in the United Kingdom is on the decline in late November, as the country confirmed 11,299 new cases over the past 24 hours, down from over 15,000 cases confirmed a day before, the Department of Health and Social Care's data showed.
A strain of novel coronavirus has been detected at a mink farm in Poland, the Radio Zet broadcaster reported.
Iran has registered an all-time daily high of 13,721 coronavirus cases despite the restrictions that are in place across the country, Iranian Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.
The coronavirus circulating in Russia does not have any mutations that could make it more dangerous, Anna Popova, the head of the consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said.
The Spanish government will present a plan to the regions for the Christmas holidays that implies limiting family gatherings to six people and delaying the night curfew until 1 a.m. on the eves of both Christmas and New Year's Day, Spanish news agency Mundo reported, referring to the draft plan prepared by the government.
The heads of Germany's 16 states have agreed on a draft proposal for extending certain elements of the country's coronavirus-related social distancing measures into December before a temporary easing of restrictions for the Christmas holidays, the mayor of Berlin, Michael Mueller, said ahead of a planned meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The United Kingdom will start getting back to normal following the second wave of the pandemic after Easter if the coronavirus vaccines pass regulatory approvals in due time, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
All passengers arriving in England will be able to have the mandatory 14-day quarantine cut to five days on condition of a negative COVID-19 test, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) said in a statement.
Polish ski resorts will be able to work during the upcoming winter despite the recent surge in the COVID-19 daily numbers, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said.
Hong Kong will close bars, night clubs and saunas starting November 26 due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in the special administrative region, media reported.
South Korea toughened its social distancing regulations in several parts of the country, including the capital city, in the wake of what it described as the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the country's health ministry.
The death rate in Russia has grown because of the coronavirus, but the exact link is subject for analysis by the federal response center, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The German government expects to spend 17 billion Euros ($20.2 billion) in December to rescue struggling businesses if the coronavirus shutdown continues, according to media reports.
Systematic coronavirus testing of airline passengers would allow governments to manage the pandemic without border closures and quarantine measures that threaten to destroy global aviation and 46 million related jobs the industry supports, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recommended.
China's northeastern city of Tianjin has tested nearly 2.5 million residents for coronavirus in three days as part of preventive measures after five cases of local transmission were detected in one of the districts, the local government said. The polymerase chain reaction tests of all the 2,467,411 people came back negative.
The Czech Republic intends to follow the suit of Slovakia and conduct nationwide voluntary and free testing of the population for the coronavirus in December, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said.
The Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers agreed Tuesday that their countries would work together to boost post-coronavirus economic recovery, Japanese media said.
