MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 2 million, over 95.3 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 95,392,103, including 2,035,895 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 2,018,793, including 398,307 fatalities.
Russia needs to vaccinate 60 percent of the population or roughly 68.6 million people against the coronavirus, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said.
Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan will start issuing special passports to citizens with coronavirus antibodies in order to begin partially lifting restriction measures and motivate people to get inoculated.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Gamaleya research center announced the establishment of a scientific advisory board on Sputnik V vaccine, which includes leading scientists from nine countries.
Turkmenistan has become the first Central Asian country to register Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, the approval was granted by the Turkmen Health Ministry under the emergency use authorization procedure, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.
Algeria expects to receive about 500,000 doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V this month, Jamal Furar, the spokesperson of the Coronavirus Monitoring and Follow-up Committee said.
Two more COVID-19 vaccines, developed by the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford and Johnson & Johnson, may be approved for emergency use in the United States within a "couple of weeks," Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said.
California's State Epidemiologist, Dr. Erica Pan, called for pausing administration of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine due to a high-than-usual number of severe allergic reactions.
The European Union needs to accelerate the process of mass vaccination against the novel coronavirus, as well as that of vaccine deliveries, Maros Sefcovic, the vice-president of the European Commission in charge of the Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, said.
More than 4 million people in the United Kingdom have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, Public Health England said. UK COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said that it was "achievable" to vaccinate all adults of the United Kingdom against the coronavirus disease by September of this year.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency commented on the death of 23 people inoculated with Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines by saying that elderly and frail patients should carefully consider the risk-benefit ratio before vaccination.
US pharmaceutical producer Pfizer delivered to Poland half the planned number of doses of its vaccine amid the reduction in shipments to EU countries declared by the company last week, Michal Dworczyk, the government's vaccination commissioner, told the RMF FM broadcaster.
Uzbekistan has ordered 100,000 doses of the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech as part of the COVAX mechanism, Deputy Health Minister Bakhodir Yusupaliev said.
Leaders of member countries of the CΟVID-19 Management Group have put forward an initiative for faster approval of COVID-19 vaccines by AstraZeneca and other companies during a virtual conference, the office of the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the nation would likely achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus disease under the government immunization program by November of this year.
A newborn in the Bulgarian city of Pazardzhik was found to have antibodies to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, media reported.
Russia registered 22,857 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 23,586 the day before, taking the tally to 3,591,066, the coronavirus response center said.
Portugal has recorded 167 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, which is the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic, the country's health ministry said.
Graubunden, a canton in the south-east of Switzerland, shut down the St. Moritz ski resort and put guests and staff on quarantine, after health authorities registered a surge in the spread of the mutated strain of coronavirus.
Poland might open restaurants and hotels in February, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Turkey expects to reduce the number of coronavirus cases to a minimum before the start of the tourist season, vaccination will be taken into account when certifying tourist sites, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
Finland is not going to open its borders for tourists in the near future, as the government is set to introduce some new coronavirus-related entry restrictions on Friday, Eriikka Koistinen, a spokeswoman for the Finnish Interior Ministry, told Sputnik.
China's GDP growth slowed down to a record low of 2.3 percent in 2020, the lowest value in the past 40 years, amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
About 900 Japanese companies have declared bankruptcies since February 2020, as the coronavirus raged across the nation, media reported, citing research firm Teikoku Databan.
The German Health Ministry will create a special mechanism to detect and systematize the coronavirus mutations amid a threat of spreading of the new strains, health minister Jens Spahn announced.
