Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th January, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 1.985 million, over 92.7 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 20:30 GMT Thursday, the number of cases globally is 92,747,607, including 1,985,836 fatalities.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 23,194,318, including 386,577 fatalities.

Russia plans to submit its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for approval in the European Union next month, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.

The international certification of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus, Sputnik V, is at the stage of WHO approval and the organization is ready to help in speeding up this process, technical officer for immunization at WHO Regional Office for Europe, Oleg Benes, said at a briefing with Russian-language media.

Russia may have a combined vaccine against the coronavirus and flu already by the end of the next year, as the Gamaleya research institute has already perfected the technology for such vaccines creation, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the institute, told Sputnik.

Experts continue monitoring the health condition of volunteers engaged in post-registration trials of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, and no new adverse reactions have been registered so far, Gamaleya's Gintsburg also told Sputnik.

About 140,000 Russian citizens living in Moscow have already been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, adding that a record number of people have made appointments to receive the vaccine over the past two days.

Russia's medical watchdog Roszdravnadzor said that it was illegal to either import or use COVID-19 vaccines that have yet to receive the authorization of the Russian government, following reports that individuals could receive Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine against the disease at the Moscow International Medical Cluster in Skolkovo.

Import of unregistered coronavirus vaccines in Russia is an issue that has yet to be improved, a spokesperson for the International Medical Cluster in Moscow's Skolkovo high-tech village told Sputnik.

The Chilean Foreign Ministry has held an online conference with Russia's Gamaleya research institute to prepare an agreement on exchanging data on Sputnik V, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Chile told Sputnik.

Community pharmacies in England began administering COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday as part of an acceleration of the country's mass immunization campaign, the National Health Service said.

French medicine safety agency has recorded six cases of serious side effects, mostly an allergic reaction, caused by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus.

India is ready to use its vaccine production and delivery capacity to help the international community fight the coronavirus pandemic, Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

The Philippines authorities with the participation of private companies have signed an agreement to acquire a total of 17 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, media reported.

Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the immunization campaign in the Vatican, Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni told reporters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was vaccinated against the coronavirus in Ankara, local broadcaster reported. Turkey is expecting to receive about 25-30 million doses of China's SinoVac vaccine, Erdogan said after he got vaccinated.

Experts in Norway are investigating the deaths of 23 people, who died after being vaccinated with Pfizer vaccine against coronavirus, the Norwegian Medicines Agency said.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails will begin receiving a coronavirus vaccine next week, media reported, citing the health ministry, following Palestine's accusations that Israel is reluctant to vaccinate Palestinian prisoners.

Russia registered 24,763 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 22,850 the day before, taking the tally to 3,495,816, the coronavirus response center said.

The COVID-19 crisis is getting closer to the turning point and the situation will get better after that, in part, due to mass vaccination, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to discuss a complete national shutdown with regional governors next week, media said.

France will extend the nightly curfew by two hours and toughen border controls in a bid to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Jean Castex said.

Spain has registered 38,869 new cases of the coronavirus disease over the past 24 hours, which marks the highest single-day increment since the start of the outbreak and brings the country's tally 2,176,089, the health ministry said.

Africa's second COVID-19 wave has already exceeded the peak of last summer's first wave, as the continent has registered, on average, more than 25,000 new cases daily over the past two weeks, Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Africa, said.

All the pupils studying in Moscow will return to schools on January 18 after a long period of winter holidays and distance learning, imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced.

The Italian government has decided to prolong the emergency situation regime imposed over the coronavirus pandemic until April 30, a Sputnik correspondent reported. Italy extended restrictions on movement between the country's regions until February 15, the health ministry said.

The French National Commission on Information Technology and Freedoms (CNIL) called on the interior ministry to abandon its practice of flying drones to monitor compliance with the lockdown measures.

Austria saw daily coronavirus cases spike at 3,510 on Thursday, a day after the health minister warned the Alpine nation about hard times ahead.

Algeria's authorities have decided to extend a partial lockdown in 29 out of 48 provinces across the country for 15 more days starting Saturday as part of measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the national APS news agency reported.

Colombian President Ivan Duque announced the extension of the selective isolation regime due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic through February 28.

Japan's Mie prefecture has decided to independently declare a state of emergency on its territory amid worsening COVID-19 situation in the neighboring regions, the Kyodo news agency said.

Air Canada is reducing its staff capacity by 1,700 positions after the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweaked entry requirements mandating negative coronavirus tests to board an inbound flight, the company said in a statement.

The international team of experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived on Thursday in the Chinese city of Wuhan to study the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese media reported.

The Australian state of Queensland is considering using mining camps as quarantine sites for international travelers as the region looks to contain the spread of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant first identified in the United Kingdom, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

Alireza Vahabzade, an adviser to Iran's minister of health, said that the developer of the first indigenous coronavirus vaccine was among the organizations slapped with sanctions by the United States.