MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 4.438 million, over 212.2 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 Monday, the number of cases globally is 212,265,773, including 4,438,120 fatalities. As many as 4.95 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.
The Philippines authorized Russia's single-component Sputnik Light vaccine against COVID-19, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.
Russia is currently exploring options for producing its coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in Hungary, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Hungary's Magyar Nemzet newspaper.
The Russian Federal Biomedical Agency (FMBA) is finishing the second phase of clinical trials of its coronavirus drug MIR-19 and plans to submit a report to the ministry of health in September, FMBA chief Veronika Skvortsova said.
The US food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine making it the first vaccine that has been fully licensed for use in individuals 16 years and older in the United States.
The FDA needs more data to determine whether the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is safe for use in children younger than 12 years of age, acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock said.
New York City will enforce the compulsory vaccination against the novel coronavirus of all teachers and support staff throughout the school system during this educational year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
The US Defense Department is currently working on a guidance that will require all service members to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus following the issuance of full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier in the day, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said.
The United States plans to offer coronavirus vaccines to Afghan refugees housed in US military bases, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
The United Kingdom has secured a contract with Pfizer/BioNTech for the delivery of 35 million more doses of their COVID-19 vaccine from the second half of 2022, as part of preparations to give booster jabs and future-proof the country from the threat of the coronavirus, the UK government announced.
Russia registered 19,454 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, less than 20,000 new cases for the first time since late June, taking the overall tally to 6,766,541, the federal response center said.
The sitting of New Zealand Parliament was suspended for a week due to the lockdown, the country's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
The first COVID-19 related death in the United States may have occurred as early as in January 2020, several weeks before the country started logging virus-related fatalities in the original record, Mercury news reported.
The White House expects to release an unclassified version of the US intelligence report on the origins of COVID-19 in the next several days, spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
