Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 2.554 million, almost 115 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 Wednesday, the number of cases globally is 114,996,913, including 2,554,914 fatalities.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 28,755,407, including 518,265 fatalities.

The head of the Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) expressed belief that around 30 percent of the Russian population should be inoculated against the coronavirus by May in order to avoid the third wave of the virus.

Angola, Djibouti and the Republic of Congo have officially authorized Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V for mass use, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.

Slovakia's President Zuzana Caputova and top diplomat Ivan Korcok have expressed dissatisfaction with the prime minister's decision to use the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in absence of the EU regulator's approval.

Croatian Health Minister Vili Beros has confirmed his country's interest in purchasing the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, the Russian Embassy in Zagreb said.

Nicaragua started inoculating the population with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Prensa reported.

Poland's Mabion SA biotechnology company said on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the US Novavax pharmaceutical company on the transfer of the manufacturing technology of the latter's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The Czech Republic has received an offer to purchase one million doses of the India-produced AstraZeneca vaccine, but turned the offer down as the manufacturer's license does not meet the European criteria, Health Minister Jan Blatny said.

EU Council President Charles Michel said that he would personally engage in the process of shipping COVID-19 vaccines to Ukraine through the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility to accelerate the delivery.

US President Joe Biden said that because of a stepped-up production process, the United States will have enough novel coronavirus vaccines for every American adult by the end of May. Biden also announced that pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co would help produce Johnson & Johnson's single-shot coronavirus vaccines in a move bound to accelerate the inoculation campaign in the United States.

The United States, along with Japan, India and Australia, the so-called Quad group, are developing a plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines across Asia as part of their strategy to counter China's growing influence, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Two South Korean citizens, who had multiple underlying diseases, died after receiving AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, media reported, citing officials.

South Korean sports officials are engaged in talks with the national health authorities on vaccinating athletes who will partake in the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games expected this summer, against the coronavirus, media reported.

India's first vaccine against the coronavirus, COVAXIN, demonstrated interim clinical efficacy of 81 percent in phase 3 trials, vaccine developer Bharat Biotech announced.

Kenya received the first batch of over 1 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine via the WHO-led COVAX global distribution facility, a group of international agencies affiliated with COVAX said in a joint statement.

Sudan has received the first batch of over 800,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine via the WHO-led COVAX distribution facility, enabling the country to start its vaccination campaign next week, Health Minister Omar Ahmed Al-Najeeb said.

The test system for coronavirus variants is being prepared for registration in mid-March, Veronika Skvortsova, the head of the Russian Federal Medical�Biological Agency (FMBA) said.

The number of new global cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has risen over the past week after a long decline, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement.

A 3.5 percent rise in the number of US coronavirus cases in the most recent seven-day period suggests the nation is entering a critical phase in efforts to battle the pandemic, as coronavirus variants with increased transmissibility spread, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walenski said.

US President Joe Biden hopes life will return back to normal from the novel coronavirus pandemic in about one year.

Russia registered 10,535 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 10,565 the day before, taking the overall tally to 4,278,750, the coronavirus response center said.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko expressed the belief that the nation could form herd immunity against the coronavirus in the first half of the year, perhaps by July.

The World Health Organization (WHO) advises against rolling out vaccination passports at the moment, Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic said amid the growing debate around the digital certificates.

The Biden administration doubled down on warnings against easing the coronavirus pandemic restrictions amid decisions by some US states to ease or eliminate rules for masks, public gatherings and other mitigation measures, the White House COVID-19 Task Force said.

The Italian government has passed another decree to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), extending the existing measures until April 6.

Spain will make travelers from coronavirus-hit Colombia, Peru and eight African countries self-isolate for at least seven days upon arrival, starting on Monday.

The coronavirus state of emergency in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area must be extended by an additional two weeks beyond its looming expiry, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said.

Saudi Arabia's authorities have required all those who will take part in the organization of Hajj � an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca � to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Jeddah-based newspaper Al-Okaz reported, citing the kingdom's health ministry.

The crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic has severely affected the European youth, essentially costing them a whole year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Almost 60 percent of Japanese citizens are against holding the Summer Olympic Games in the country's capital of Tokyo due to COVID-19, according to a poll published by The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

The UK government will allocate an additional 1.65 billion British Pounds ($2.3 billion) in fiscal year 2021-2022 to roll out the vaccination program, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said. The government will require businesses to pay contributions to the cost of paying their employees for the hours they have not worked due to the COVID-19 lockdown under the furlough scheme that will be extended until late September, Sunak also said.