MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.514 million, over 65.6 million cases of infection were detected, and over 42.1 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 20:00 GMT Friday, the number of cases globally is 65,627,738, including 1,514,034 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 14,249,105, including 277,693 fatalities and 5,404,018 recoveries.
Moscow has launched vaccination against the coronavirus by opening up online registration, and 5,000 people have signed up in the first five hours, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said it would partner up with the Kazakh health ministry on registration and production of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus.
The Russian Ministry of Defense plans to receive 100,000 doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 later this month, Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov said.
Kazakhstan will launch production of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V on December 22, the presidential press service said.
The German government pledged that the population would be able to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease for free and on a voluntary basis, a representative of country's health ministry and the government spokesman said during a joint briefing.
UK business secretary Alok Sharma said that "some millions" of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses would be made available by the end of the year, down from the 10 million doses mentioned earlier by the prime minister.
Welsh residents are expected to begin receiving vaccines against COVID-19 from Tuesday, following the UK's approval of a candidate vaccine produced by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech, First Minister Mark Drakeford said.
Turkey is in talks with China and Russia on supplies of vaccines against the coronavirus, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Israel signed an agreement with US pharmaceutical company Moderna to procure an additional 4 million doses of its candidate coronavirus vaccine in 2021, thus tripling the amount under the original contract, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press service said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned over the growing perception that the COVID-19 pandemic has come to an end following the recent positive results from vaccine trials and the United Kingdom's decision to give emergency use approval to a candidate vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The World Health Organization does not expect the advent of coronavirus vaccines to break the chains of transmission soon, Mike Ryan, the executive director of the UN agency's health emergencies program said.
Tedros also endorsed the United Kingdom's authorization of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the tandem of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech.
Refugees and displaced persons should not be left out from national relief packages and social programs, including COVID-19 immunization when a vaccine becomes available, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.
The United States has registered a single-day record of 217,664 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Russia has registered 27,403 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from the record 28,145 the day before, bringing the total to 2,402,949, the federal response center said.
Countries that are currently experiencing high levels of COVID-19 transmission should ensure they maintain strong social distancing measures up to the end of the year or face the prospect of the spread of the disease blowing "out of control," Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme, said.
Ukraine's Ministry of Health will recommend the cabinet to introduce a strict three-week lockdown starting early January to contain the spreading of the coronavirus, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said.
Philippines Joint Task Force Covid Shield Commander Cesar Binag said that police in Manila will resort to using sticks to maintain social distance in public areas amid the spread of the coronavirus, the government news agency reported.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova refuted reports of foreign media about discrepancies in Russia's COVID-19 statistics.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said that the European Union's accusations against Russia of disinformation about the coronavirus infection created a background for censorship against journalists, making a productive dialogue hardly possible in such conditions.
The European Union will come out of the coronavirus crisis with 103-104 percent debt-to-GDP ratio in the euro area, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said.
The World Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) believes that the most effective way of preventing COVID-19-like viruses is to ensure good veterinary governance, timely respond to animal disease and initiate control over food processing, Jocelyn Brown, the agency's deputy regional representative for Africa, said
Mass testing of the population for coronavirus began in Vienna on Friday, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
