MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 3.996 million, over 184.8 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 20:20 GMT Wednesday, the number of cases globally is 184,853,462, including 3,996,904 fatalities. As many as 3.32 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.
Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, which is yet to get approval for emergency use from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), appears to be safe and effective, with no blood-clotting side effects registered in the dozens of countries that are using it, Nature reported.
The report published by the British scientific journal Nature on the effectiveness of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is comparable in importance to the one published earlier by The Lancet, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said.
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto honored Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov with the highest national order of merit for foreigners in recognition of his role in Hungary's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
Russian COVID-19 vaccine CoviVac has shown effectiveness against the Delta coronavirus strain, the director-general of the Chumakov Center of the Russian academy of Sciences, Aidar Ishmukhametov, said.
Russia and Laos are completing talks on the supply of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Moscow is also considering a request from the leadership of the Asian country that some of the vaccines be supplied as humanitarian aid, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
Russia is ready to supply vaccines and medical equipment to North Korea to combat coronavirus, if Pyongyang reports such a need, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
The United States is set to send 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to Bolivia and Paraguay on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
New Zealand has pre-approved the Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine for people aged 18 years and older, the government announced.
The onset of a flu vaccine trial using messenger-RNA (mRNA) technology could lead to a single jab targeting multiple respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, vaccine maker Moderna said.
The coronavirus incidence is growing in 82 of Russia's 85 regions, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said. Nevertheless, the rate of increase in the incidence has slowed down somewhat, she noted.
Russia recorded 23,962 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 5,682,634, the federal response center said.
The European Commission says the economic outlook has improved for the eurozone since its previous May forecast, but the coronavirus pandemic is not over and new variants pose a risk.
Most European nations are lifting certain coronavirus-linked measures, including mandatory testing and quarantine requirements, for those vaccinated or recovered from the disease, Didier Reynders, the European Commissioner for Justice, told the European Parliament.
The European Union is eyeing the inclusion of Switzerland in its system of COVID-19 certificates, EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders told the European Parliament.
Discussions between Armenia and the European Union on mutual recognition of coronavirus certificates are underway, the Armenian Health Ministry said.
Finnish national carrier Finnair announced that it would no longer require certain passengers to present COVID-19 certificates before boarding a flight to Finland as entry controls will be performed by the authorities upon arrival.
Authorities in China's Ruili in the west of the Yunnan province imposed a lockdown after 15 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in the past 24 hours, local authorities said.
The eastern states of Germany were less affected by the crisis caused by COVID-19 because they are less dependent on export, though their economic restoration will be slower, Marco Wanderwitz, the government commissioner for the new federal states, said.
Increasing COVID admissions have forced one of the largest hospital trusts in England to cancel urgent cancer surgeries, the trust's directors said in an e-mail, cited by The Independent.
The restrictive measures against Cuba imposed by the former Trump administration have obstructed the arrival of humanitarian aid in the island nation during the coronavirus pandemic, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta told Sputnik.
The United States trade embargo imposed against Cuba has hampered the island nation's ability to produce coronavirus vaccines as it was unable to obtain more than 30 pieces of supplies necessary for running the clinical trials, Pedroso Cuesta also told Sputnik.
