Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 4.263 million, over 200.6 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 Thursday, the number of cases globally is 200,670,720, including 4,263,828 fatalities. As many as 4.3 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.

The launch of the production of Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V is expected in the fall, Russian ambassador in Cairo Georgy Borisenko said.

Northeastern Brazilian states suspended on Thursday their plan to import millions of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine doses from Russia amid pressure from the national health regulator.

Argentina sees the possibility of combining Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V with Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to provide 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines doses and $100 million in aid to the COVAX shot-sharing scheme by the end of the year.

A 60 percent majority of US adults support requiring healthcare workers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, but the margin evaporates for other groups such as college students, restaurant patrons and business employees, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Government employees in the US states of Virginia and Maryland will now be required to receive covoravirus vaccines or be subject to regular testing, governors Ralph Northam and Larry Hogan announced separately.

The Biden administration has not yet made a decision on the vaccination requirement for foreign travelers seeking to enter United States but the respective policy is being worked out, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said.

The Biden administration has also yet to decide whether foreign visitors to the US with a Russian or Chinese COVID vaccine would be eligible for entry under a policy that would mandate vaccines for foreigners entering the country, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

The Canadian government is considering making vaccination against the novel coronavirus mandatory for federal employees, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Russia registered 23,120 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 22,589 the day before, taking the overall tally to 6,379,904, the federal response center said.

The US authorities have reported a 43 percent increase in the number of new coronavirus cases, hospital admissions and deaths over the past seven days, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said

The Japanese capital of Tokyo, which is currently hosting the Olympic Games, registered a new single-day record of over 5,000 COVID-19 cases, the Kyodo news agency reported, citing sources in the government. Japan also set a new record of over 15,000 daily COVID-19 infections, breaking the previous record of 14,200 cases that was registered just one day earlier, the NHK broadcaster reported.

Morocco has registered 12,039 new COVID-19 cases within the past 24 hours, marking the largest daily increase since the start of the outbreak, the kingdom's health ministry said.

The daily increase in registered cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Turkey was 26,822 on Wednesday, highest since May 4, the country's health ministry said.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil has exceeded 20 million, the ministry of health said. Over the past 24 hours, the country recorded 40,716 infections, and 1,175 patients with COVID-19 died.

The United Kingdom government said that starting from Sunday it would scrap the COVID-19 quarantine for fully vaccinated travelers arriving from France where the proportion of Beta variant cases has fallen.

The French Constitutional Council said it had supported the expansion of the use of sanitary pass, which presupposed a vaccination or a negative test for the coronavirus, when visiting cafes and shopping centers.

A rally has been staged outside the French Constitutional Council that had approved an extended usage of health passes, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

France is working on a mechanism that will enable vaccinated tourists from non-EU countries to obtain a COVID-19 heath pass, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, the state minister for tourism, said.

From September 1, Italy will make it mandatory to present a sanitary pass with a QR code (the so-called "green pass") for travel on certain types of long-distance transport, including express trains, airplanes, ships, ferries and interregional buses, the country's minister of sustainable infrastructure and mobility, Enrico Giovannini, said.

A curfew and new restrictions will be imposed in the Greek regions of Zakynthos and Chania until August 13 due to an increase in COVID-19 infections, the Greek General Secretariat for Civil Protection said.

South Korea is toughening COVID-19 rules aboard passenger planes starting August 9 over a rise in daily infections at home and abroad, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.

The Victoria state, which includes Australia's second most populous city of Melbourne, imposed a week-long lockdown on Thursday after logging six new locally acquired COVID-19 cases.

Tokyo citizens held a rally demanding the immediate suspension of Olympic Games as COVID-19 infections surge to a record high, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the city.

The Beijing International Film Festival has been postponed due to new COVID-19 outbreaks in China, according to the event's official WeChat account.

Tourist arrivals in Greece have picked up to about 60% of 2019 levels, a positive trend in the pandemic-struck sector, Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis told Sputnik in an interview, adding that full performance, however, was still far ahead.

Backing for US President Joe Biden's handling of the pandemic fell by more than 10 percentage points in July, although the president still enjoyed majority support, a Quinnipiac University poll said.

A 52 percent majority of likely US voters believe that public health should take precedence over individual liberty during the coronavirus pandemic, a Rasmussen Reports poll said.

A 62 percent majority of parents with children under age 18 believe their child care and virtual schooling duties during the pandemic have negatively impacted chances to advance in their careers, a poll by the American Staffing Association (ASA) said.

Amazon has postponed the date for its employees to return to their offices until January 22 due to the spread of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, Amazon Human Resources chief Beth Galetti said in an email to employees.