MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 4.32 million, over 204.4 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 204,453,745, including 4,320,801 fatalities. As many as 4.52 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.
Russia's Sputnik V vaccine shows great results against the Delta coronavirus strain, with its effectiveness against it reaching around 83%, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.
The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, which has been registered in Russia for one year, has confirmed its quality and safety during this time, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, which developed the vaccine, told Sputnik.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) proposes to US drugmaker Pfizer to start joint trials with Sputnik Light as booster COVID-19 vaccine shot.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declined to set a deadline for the assessment of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, saying legal proceedings were in progress.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is studying several possible negative side effects related to Pfizer/BioNtech's Comirnaty and Moderna's Spikevax mRNA coronavirus vaccines.
The EMA added Guillain-Barre syndrome as a very rare side effect of Johnson & Johnson's Jenssen vaccine, based on their latest safety update on authorized COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union.
France will start COVID-19 revaccination for vulnerable groups of people from mid-September, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said.
The Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) authorized clinical trials for the PHH-1V coronavirus vaccine of pharmaceutical company Hipra, the health ministry said.
The United Kingdom is set to announce a deal with Pfizer for 35 million COVID-19 vaccine doses worth 1 billion Pounds ($1.4 billion), a fifth costlier than before, UK media said.
New data from clinical trials of the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, plus earlier trials of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) jab, demonstrate that the three vaccines approved in the United States are safe during pregnancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
California has become the first state in the US to mandate all school staff to be either fully vaccinated or weekly tested to be allowed to work, Governor's Office announced.
The WHO announced that it was launching the next phase of its Solidarity trial to test three new drugs in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The WHO expects to have updates on the final assessment of Bharat Covaxin, India's domestic COVID-19 vaccine, by mid-September, Mariangela Simao, the assistant director-general of the WHO, said.
The Israeli Health Ministry has given permission to biotech company Bonus BioGroup to begin Phase 2 trials of its COVID-19 drug based on stem cells, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.
Russia registered 21,571 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, up from 21,378 the day before, taking the overall tally to 6,512,859, the federal response center said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the COVID-19 situation in the country was getting very tough in light of the spread of the Delta virus variant.
A Greek health authority reported a daily increase of 4,181 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, which comes close to the March record of 4,340.
The daily number of new coronavirus infections in Japan has hit a new record high, topping 15,800 fresh cases over the past 24 hours, media reported.
The B.1.526 strain of coronavirus, also known as Iota, first discovered in New York in November 2020, transmits 15-25% faster than other strains, a reprint published on the medRxiv server said.
The owners and managers of Italian facilities where visitors have to show their COVID-19 passes have a right to check their identification documents in case of doubts as to certificate authenticity, the interior ministry said.
The US State Department issued an advisory informing Americans that it has included Israel on its "Do Not travel" list of countries after a marked increase in the number of coronavirus cases in that country.
Six in 10 Americans report they were unable to get a product this summer due with the coronavirus pandemic measures disrupting supplies needed to manufacture consumer goods, a Gallup poll revealed.
Preliminary data established that the Iota variant of the coronavirus, first discovered in New York in November 2020, does not result in more severe disease, Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's technical lead for COVID-19, said.
The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, known as Europol, announced that an online scam involving the sale of protective materials against COVID-19, such as facemasks, had been uncovered as 23 suspects are charged with business email fraud.
