MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2021) The toll of coronavirus cases has topped 113.9 million globally,�according to the latest update from the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from Federal and local authorities, media and other sources.
This includes 2,528,117 coronavirus-related deaths and over 64.3 million recoveries worldwide.
Over the past day, nearly 385,000 new coronavirus cases were confirmed globally, according to the World Health Organization.
The United States continues to be the country with the highest single toll of confirmed cases and deaths, 28.5 million and 512,503, respectively.
India comes next in terms of case count, with over 11 million cases, followed by Brazil with 10.5 million cases.
Russia comes fourth, but with the case count over two times smaller than Brazil's. The Russian authorities reported 11,359 cases and 379 deaths over the past 24 hours, which took the cumulative toll to 4.2 million cases, including 86,122 deaths.
Brazil has the second-highest death toll with 254,221 reported fatalities, followed by Mexico with 185,257 fatalities.
Czech President Milos Zeman has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for supplies of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. He said that the authorization of the Czech national drug regulator (SUKL) would be enough to get the vaccine out and that the European Medicines Agency's authorization was not necessary.
Developers of Russia's Sputnik Light vaccine, which is a single-dose version of Sputnik V, applied for an emergency use authorization in Russia and several other countries, which they did not specify. They expect to begin using the vaccine in March.
The US food and Drug Administration approved Johnson & Johnson's single-shot coronavirus vaccine for emergency use.
China shipped first batches of vaccines to Iran and the Philippines. The Philippines received 600,000 doses from Sinovac, while Iran received� 250,000 doses from Sinopharm.
Australia received its first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the amount of 300,000 doses. Its total contracted amount with the UK company is 53 million doses.
South Korea managed to vaccinate seven people from one Pfizer vaccine vial, designed to be enough for five shots, using so-called low dead space (LDS) syringes. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency ordered the country's vaccination centers to use these innovative syringes in order to maximize the number of shots per one vial.
As South Korea's vaccination campaign marks its second day, the country boasted getting over 20,000 people covered, with only 112 cases with adverse reactions.
Vatican Ambassador to Iraq Archbishop Mitja Leskovar contracted the coronavirus, but this is not expected to anyhow impact the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Baghdad next week.
Iran banned arrivals from 32 countries which it considers export hazard of COVID-19 and new virus variants, including South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil.
France is in talks with Germany in a bid to ease border controls for its German-facing Moselle region, which affect some 16,000 cross-border workers. France increased Moselle's COVID-19 risk level earlier this week, to which Germany responded by closing the border and demanding that all incomers show a negative PCR test taken no earlier than 48 hours before the travel.
