MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd December, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.711 million, over 77.7 million cases of infection were detected, 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 77,753,952, including 1,711,385 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 18,134,027, including 321,301 fatalities.
Fifty-two thousand people have been inoculated against the coronavirus in Russia so far, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and reaffirmed their intention to develop contacts between the two countries on the production of vaccines, the Kremlin said.
Although the newly identified COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom could transmit faster, it is unlikely to make existing vaccines less effective because the vaccines could still identify the new strain, virologists told Sputnik.
US epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci and Health Secretary Alex Azar both received their first dose of the coronavirus in a televised ceremony at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Nearly half of US adults consider coronavirus vaccines authorized for emergency use are both safe and effective, a Rasmussen Reports poll said.
US companies Pfizer and Moderna are testing the effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccines against a new and more contagious strain of the coronavirus that was recently discovered in the United Kingdom, CNN reported, citing vaccine developers.
Severe side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech are a rare occurrence, a representative of the Robert Koch Institute said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that Kuala Lumpur had signed an agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to procure 6.4 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, while also being in talks with China's Sinovac and CanSino, as well as Russia's Gamaleya research center to procure additional doses.
Russia has registered 28,776 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from record 29,350 the day before, bringing the total to 2,906,503, the federal response center said.
Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor is closely monitoring the situation with new strains of coronavirus, including the one found in the UK, its chief Anna Popova said.
A Chilean research base in Antarctica has detected that 36 of its members were infected with the COVID-19 virus, making the continent the last in the world to be affected by the pandemic, the Chilean military said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all countries to increase genetic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 viruses whenever possible and report if new strains of the coronavirus that raise concerns are detected, WHO Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic told Sputnik.
The newly identified mutant strain of COVID-19 discovered in the United Kingdom has not yet been detected in the United States but could already be present in the country, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned.
The strain of COVID-19 that was recently detected in the United Kingdom was confirmed in Bulgaria back in April, Bulgarian pulmonologist Alexander Simidchev said.
The governor of the Istanbul province, Ali Yerlikaya, said that Turkey's largest city had passed the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave, and the number of hospitalizations had decreased by 40 percent.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel hinted that as the new strain of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 recently identified in England is rapidly spreading across the UK, the government will need to implement another national lockdown by New Year to try to contain the disease.
Ireland has extended its ban on travelers from the UK through December 31 as the initial 48-hour ban was set to expire midnight Wednesday, media reported.
Gibraltar, a territory of the United Kingdom on the southernmost tip of the European continent at the edge of Spain, has closed the borders to certain categories of arrivals over the new, mutated coronavirus strain, the local government said.
Canada enhanced measures to screen travelers from the United Kingdom over coronavirus concerns, including those arriving from other countries, Canada's Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told reporters.
Ukraine is not yet prepared to impose an entry ban on those arriving from the UK, where a new strain of coronavirus has been detected, but will introduce a number of restrictions for them, Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko said.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee issued a mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving from the United Kingdom, South Africa and other nations where the new strain of the coronavirus has been discovered.
Turkish authorities have quarantined 4,603 passengers from the United Kingdom, where a new mutation of the coronavirus has been detected, Turkish Heath Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
Iraq is suspending travel to and from a number of countries over the spread of a novel strain of the coronavirus, the office of Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi said.
Authorities in the Maharashtra state in India's center-west imposed a nighttime curfew for the Christmas period as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus strain from the United Kingdom, Indian media reported.
Mainland Europe-bound truck drivers are stuck in the United Kingdom amid borders shut down by France over the new coronavirus strain, including for cargo vehicles, unlike during the first wave in the spring, Polish Minister of Infrastucture Andrzej Adamczyk said.
France might face shortages of fish and seafood during upcoming holidays after blocking UK cargo amid the new coronavirus strain, Dominique Schelcher, CEO of French retailers' association Systeme U, told the BFMTV broadcaster.
Toyota Motor Corp. is halting the work of its production facilities in the United Kingdom, as well as France, following the emergence of the new coronavirus strain, The Japan Times reported.
Babies born to women who test positive for the novel coronavirus during the final trimester of pregnancy will most likely be disease free when they enter the world, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported based on a recent study.
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare found that 78,153 people faced or were about to face unemployment between the end of January and December 21 due to the coronavirus pandemic, national media reported.
More than half of fake news in 2020 was related to the topic of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Russian consumer rights watchdog Roskomnadzor told Sputnik.
The United Kingdom could reach a deal with France later in the day to lift the movement restrictions imposed after the emergence of a new COVID-19 strain in the UK, the country's media reported, adding that the deal will involve the military testing UK truck drivers entering France.
