Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 5.004 million, over 247 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 Monday, the number of cases globally is 247,000,948, including 5,004,153 fatalities. As many as 7.08 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.

A study conducted by the health ministry of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, showed high efficacy of the Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in protecting people aged 60 and older, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.

There have been no complaints about side effects from the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 even among people who have been revaccinated, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Russian Gamaleya research center, told Sputnik.

Algeria is interested in long-term cooperation with Russia in the pharmaceutical industry, including the production of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Algerian Pharmaceutical Industry Minister Abderrahmane Lotfi Djamel Benhamed told Sputnik.

A newly developed AI Sciberia diagnostic system is empowering Yakut scientists to diagnose lung damage caused by COVID-19 in less than a minute, Sciberia company, which developed the technology, told Sputnik.

US drug maker Novavax said that the COVID-19 vaccine it had jointly developed with the Serum Institute of India has received the first authorization for emergency use in Indonesia.

Pfizer is shipping the first seven million of 15 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to eleven following food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for it last Friday. White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said.

The Iraqi regulator has approved the use of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine in teens over 12 years old, the national health ministry said.

Russia registered 40,402 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from the record 40,993 the day before, bringing the cumulative total to 8,554,192, the federal response center said.

The US seven-day average death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic fell by 10% last week to about 1,100 per day, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said.

The Kremlin believes that it is necessary to accelerate the process of mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine certificates between Russia and the European Union, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued travel health notices for Russia, Belgium and others on Monday due to very high levels of COVID-19 cases.

The Israeli government has decided to allow tourists vaccinated with Sputnik V to travel to the country from November 15, but the possible inclusion of Russia in the COVID-19 list of "red countries" may postpone the implementation of the decision by several weeks, Israeli Minister of Tourism Yoel Razvozov told Sputnik.

European electronic COVID-19 vaccine certificates are put up for sale on the darknet, with an average price of $300, Russia's leading cybersecurity and anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab said.

Thailand will allow fully vaccinated tourists from 63 low-risk countries to enter the country without quarantine from Monday.

The first international flight arrived at the Sydney airport after almost 600 days of COVID-19 related restrictions, Australian carrier Qantas said.

Authorities of Tonga are urgently imposing a lockdown on the country's main island, Tongatapu, after the first ever COVID-19 case was registered in the kingdom, media reported.

The United Nations Headquarters in New York will increase the number of staff working from the office this month as more than 88% of employees have already been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino said.

The word vax has been chosen as Word of Year in 2021, after the frequency of its usage increased 72 times since the beginning of the year, compared to the same time in 2020, Oxford Languages said.

About 9,000 New York City municipal workers have been put on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced, adding that the city's services were not disrupted.

Narrow geopolitical interests and "caveman logic" were often stronger during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic than universal human values, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.