Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 2.574 million, over 115.8 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 Friday, the number of cases globally is 115,895,976, including 2,574,873 fatalities.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 28,863,972, including 521,290 fatalities.

Russian vaccine Sputnik V took over Pfizer to rise to the second place among coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of countries' approvals, the vaccine's Twitter said.

Russia completed phase 2 clinical trials of its single-dose coronavirus vaccine Sputnik Light, all data has been submitted to experts for assessment, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

The European Union stands to benefit from its authorization of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Italian Ambassador in Moscow Pasquale Terracciano told Sputnik after the bloc launched a review of the trailblazer vaccine.

Finland may obtain the manufacturing technology of Russia's coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, but does not have the corresponding industrial production capacities, Hanna Nohynek, chief physician at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), told Sputnik.

Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will not be approved for use in Ukraine no matter what, Health Minister Maxym Stepanov said.

Italy's Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI) has discussed scientific cooperation in development and use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine with the Gamaleya Epidemiology and Microbiology Center, the coronavirus response center of the country's Lazio province said.

EU member states should refrain from conducting parallel negotiations for the supply of coronavirus vaccines with manufacturers who have centralized procurement contracts on behalf of the European Commission, but can independently conclude purchase contracts with other vaccine developers, including Russian and Chinese producers, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said.

Moldova became the first European country to receive coronavirus vaccine doses free of charge through the international COVAX facility launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), President Maia Sandu said.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex ordered that the national vaccination campaign must be accelerated amid the ongoing growth of the pandemic in the country, which has put three more of its departments on the list of areas under "enhanced surveillance."

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said during a meeting with regional authorities that the Italian government has requested extending the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to cover people over 65 years old, the Ansa news agency reported on Friday, citing sources.

The European Union should push for suspending intellectual property rules for coronavirus vaccines to ramp up domestic production as manufacturers persist in delivery delays in disregard of contracts, Laura Ferrara, a European Parliament member from Italy's Five Star Movement party, told Sputnik.

More than 62 million Americans, including 55 percent of all seniors age 65 and above, have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, White House COVID-19 Task Force leader Jeff Zients said.

Nine great apes from a zoo in the US city of San Diego have become the first non-human primates in the world to be inoculated against the coronavirus, local media reported, citing zoo officials.

A skin rash appearing around the injection site four to 11 days after the administration of the first dose could be a potential delayed reaction to the Moderna vaccine, a team of US doctors reported.

Canada's health regulatory agency announced on Friday that it has approved the coronavirus vaccine produced by the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was actively monitoring the situation in Europe where a novel coronavirus vaccine shipment destined for Australia was blocked by Italy.

US drugmaker Pfizer is moving up its novel coronavirus vaccine delivery schedule to Canada, Trudeau also said.

The COVAX Facility, the global COVID-19 vaccine distribution initiative, has delivered more than 20 million vaccine doses to a total of 20 countries, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) received more than 1.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine through the United Nations' COVAX initiative, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

The South Korean Ministry of food and Drug Safety approved the coronavirus vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Russia registered 11,024 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 11,385 the day before, taking the overall tally to 4,301,159, the coronavirus response center said.

About 25 percent of Polish citizens have antibodies against the coronavirus disease, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said.

Adults in the United States have grown increasingly hopeful that the coronavirus pandemic is getting better, a view now held by a record 60 percent, a Gallup poll revealed.

A pause in the recent decline in new coronavirus cases following the worse spike of the year-old pandemic leaves the United States in danger of yet another surge, possibly with deadlier mutations , National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that the obligatory self-isolation for people aged 65 and over, and those suffering from chronic health conditions would be lifted on March 8 in light of the decreasing coronavirus incidence.

Kuwait has introduced a nationwide night curfew for a period of one month starting Sunday and extended an entry ban for non-citizens until further notice, as the number of COVID-19 infections soared again recently, official news agency KUNA reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced the extension of the state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area until March 21.

China spent more than 400 billion Yuan ($61.7 billion) on measures countering the coronavirus pandemic last year, a government report on the execution of the budget for 2020 said.

China will actively promote international cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and support the World Health Organization (WHO) in the equitable distribution of vaccines, a government report on the social and economic development plan for 2021 said.

An expert team from the World Health Organization (WHO) that conducted a recent visit to the Chinese city of Wuhan to research the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is planning to release its summary and final reports in the week beginning March 14-15, Peter Ben Embarek, the mission's lead investigator, said.