MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th January, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.94 million, over 90.6 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 Monday, the number of cases globally is 90,673,898, including 1,940,321 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 22,515,032, including 375,239 fatalities.
Russia's health ministry has authorized clinical trials of the Sputnik Light vaccine against coronavirus, according to the ministerial register.
Russia will market the Sputnik Light vaccine against the coronavirus as a quick fix for countries struggling to save as many lives as possible, Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.
Palestine became the first country in the middle East to register Russian vaccine Sputnik V, Dmitriev also said.
Russia is planning to produce 4 million doses of Sputnik V in the next 30 days, the head of the research center that developed the vaccine, Alexander Gintsburg, told Sputnik.
Moscow will open coronavirus vaccination to scientists, IT and hospitality industry workers on Wednesday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
India's Data and Safety Monitoring board (DSMB) recommended the Drugs Controller General to start the enrollment of volunteers for Phase 3 clinical trials of Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories said.
Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Lekhim signed an agreement with the Chinese manufacturer Sinovac Biotech to purchase five million doses of coronavirus vaccine in the first half of 2021. Lekhim also intends to launch production of vaccines against coronavirus infection, which are now produced by Sinovac Biotech, in 2022.
About 40 percent of the UK citizens in their 80s have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Turkey may begin the mass vaccination against the coronavirus with a Chinese vaccine either on Thursday or Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Individuals aged 55 and over in Israel can expect to begin receiving vaccines against COVID-19 from Tuesday following the arrival of vaccine shipments from abroad, the country's ministry of health said.
US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television and promised accelerated inoculation campaign once he assumes office.
New York State seeks to create a Public Health Corps of 1,000 medical fellows to coordinate a state-wide coronavirus vaccination, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a live-streamed briefing.
The food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) of Indonesia approved the emergency use of CoronaVac, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, the Coconuts Jakarta news outlet reported, citing BPOM Head Penny K. Lukito.
Scientists from Russia and Uzbekistan have recently discovered that low doses of radiation could kill the coronavirus and its mutated variants without harming the patient, the Ural Federal University (UrFU) said.
Russia has registered 23,315 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 22,851 the day before, taking the tally to 3,425,269, the coronavirus response center said.
England's top medical officer, Chris Whitty, said that the coming weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic will be worst, as the new coronavirus strain continues to spread across the country and more people are getting infected, adding more pressure on the National Health Service.
The French city of Lille has detected two cases of the new coronavirus strain that was first discovered in the United Kingdom last month, media reported, citing health authorities.
Portugal has registered 122 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, which is the largest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic, the country's health ministry said.
The situation in Lebanese hospitals is dire as the country struggles to cope with the spread of COVID-19, Hassan Olleik, a director of one of Beirut-based hospitals, told Sputnik.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Monday that there is the possibility of a third lockdown in the country, but this was not the Primary scenario.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was spotted biking in Olympic Park on Sunday afternoon, some distance away from his official residence in 10 Downing Street, the Evening Standard reported. This may be in violation of the government's own coronavirus guidelines stipulating that outdoor exercise must be practiced without traveling outside the local area.
Poland will extend its nationwide quarantine over the coronavirus pandemic beyond January 17, Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said without mentioning any specific timeline.
Polish entrepreneurs affected by coronavirus-related restrictions have filed collective action lawsuits against the country's authorities, the DGP newspaper reported.
The authorities in the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean Sea are introducing new restrictions to contain the spread of the new type of coronavirus, local media reported.
Entrepreneurs in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil gathered outside the regional administration to rally against the coronavirus-related lockdown announced by the national government, local broadcaster Ternopil 1 reported.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declared a 14-day lockdown in five states including the capital Kuala Lumpur starting Wednesday amid an accelerating wave of COVID-19 transmissions.
The Indonesian government decided to extend its travel restrictions for foreign visitors for another two weeks until January 28 in order to control the spread of a new type of coronavirus, the CNA agency reported.
Japan will expand a state of emergency declared in Tokyo last week to the Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures, in response to the worsening coronavirus crisis, media said.
Russia's Bolshoi Theater is renowned, among many other things, for its production of the Nutcracker ballet, a holiday staple scored by Pyotr Chaikovsky. The iconic ballet was on throughout the holidays and on New Year's Eve, but the theater could fill only 25 percent of the seats under the new coronavirus restrictions.
Russian research center Vector sequenced the UK strain of the coronavirus from a patient sample in December and is still studying it, the press service of the Russia healthcare watchdog said.
There is no evidence to suggest that the newly-detected Japanese mutation made the coronavirus more aggressive, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The United Kingdom's seminal newspaper, The Guardian, raised 1.4 million British Pounds ($1.8 million) through donations for organizations helping disadvantaged youth in the country.
Former UK Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the current government response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not been "good enough," as he advocated for a more radical and scaled-up strategy to tackle the spread of the virus.
Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) do not rule out that COVID-19 could have originated in a country other than China, but find it important to start the research in Wuhan, which saw the first major outbreak, Marion Koopmans, a member of the upcoming WHO fact-finding mission to China, told Chinese state-run broadcaster CGTN.
The transmission mechanisms of the novel coronavirus via cold-chain foods and mink farms have puzzled experts and are still being researched, the WHO's Koopmans also said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) should conduct research to identify the origin of COVID-19 not only in China, but also in other countries and regions, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a briefing.
