MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th January, 2022) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 5.526 million, over 321.7 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 20:00 GMT Thursday, the number of cases globally is 321,752,884, including 5,526,169 fatalities. As many as 9.57 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.
The procedure for entry into Israel of foreigners vaccinated with Sputnik V has been clarified, and authorities will take into consideration certificates of the Sputnik Light vaccination issued in Russia as a booster dose, the Russian embassy in Israel said.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) recommended that the government provide voluntary COVID-19 vaccination to children aged 5-11 with the first shot and teenagers from 12-15 with the second shot.
The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, Swissmedic, said that over 4,200 people had experienced serious adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination, and 192 had died last year.
US President Joe Biden expressed disappointment that the US Supreme Court issued a decision to block his administration's vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees.
US pharmaceutical company Pfizer applied to Japanese Health Ministry for approval of Paxlovid, a new oral medicine against COVID-19.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen received his fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot on Friday and urged Cambodian citizens to follow his example, which marked the start of a vaccination campaign for a fourth dose.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Guideline Development Group recommended on Friday the use of two arthritis drugs called baricitinib and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in combination with corticosteroids to treat patients with severe or critical COVID-19.
Russia has confirmed 23,820 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, which brings the cumulative total to 10,747,125, the federal response center said. In the same 24 hours, 739 deaths of patients with COVID-19 have been confirmed, bringing the country's cumulative coronavirus death toll to 319,911.
The Omicron variant was detected in over 50% of coronavirus-infected people in Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Russian Railways (RZD) was notified by the Chinese authorities that the restriction on cross-border cargo deliveries, imposed on November 30 as part of COVID-19 measures, no longer applies starting Friday.
The COVID-19 situation in Germany gives no grounds to ease the restrictions at this point, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said and expressed concern over lax controls in some regions.
Hong Kong International Airport updated its transit regulations to reflect a month-long suspension of services starting January 16 for people with recent travel history in 150 countries considered high risk due to the Omicron variant.
A court in South Korea ordered a temporary halt to the government's COVID-19 pass program criticized for discrimination against unvaccinated people, national media reported.
The UK economy grew by 0.9% in November propelled by the strong performance of the services sector, and recovered to above pre-COVID-19 level for the first time since the pandemic struck in March, 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Thirteen out of 17 members of the Polish Medical Council on COVID-19 in Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's office handed in their resignations on Friday over discrepancies between medical recommendations and the authorities' actions.
