MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 5.358 million, over 275.1 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 20:10 GMT Monday, the number of cases globally is 275,170,911, including 5,358,810 fatalities. As many as 8.7 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approving use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by US company Novavax.
US biotechnology company Moderna revealed preliminary data on the efficacy of a third shot of its vaccine against the novel coronavirus strain Omicron, saying that its approved booster raises the amount of neutralizing antibodies 37-fold.
Kuwait has decided to require a person to get the third COVID-19 booster shot within nine months after the second one to be considered fully vaccinated against the disease, state-run news agency KUNA reported.
Three people of different age groups have died from heart muscle inflammation in New Zealand after receiving Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, Comirnaty, New Zealand's COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring board said.
It may require up to 40 times more coronavirus antibodies to counteract the Omicron variant compared to the original strain, Giorgio Palu, the president of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), said.
Russia confirmed 27,022 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total to 10,241,812, the federal response center said. The response center also reported 1,019 deaths linked to the coronavirus, bringing the country's death toll to 298,222.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will be ready to conduct an on-site inspection of the production of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in February 2022, if the necessary part of the documents is submitted by the end of December, WHO director of regulation and prequalification Rogerio Gaspar said at a briefing.
Intensive care units in the US hospitals are overwhelmed ahead of the expected surge in Omicron variant of COVID-19 cases, with non-COVID patients in severe health conditions and surging Delta variant cases already stretching many hospitals thin, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared the beginning of the fifth wave of the coronavirus disease and promised that necessary instructions would be issued soon.
There is consistent evidence that Omicron spreads faster than other coronavirus variants and infects vaccinated and recovered people, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency in the US capital due to a surge of novel coronavirus cases and has reinstated the city-wide indoor mask mandate.
The Israeli government approved banning all non-essential travel to Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States to prevent the spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain.
The World Economic Forum, set to be held in Davos from January 17-21, was postponed over the uncertainty over the outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus strain, the organizers said.
Two years into the pandemic, the United States is still striving to build a system to collect accurate and timely information on cases of COVID-19, and therefore has to rely on international data to help inform policy decisions, including the spread of the new Omicron variant, Politico reported, citing American officials.
