MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2022) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 5.55 million, over 332.4 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 20:35 GMT Tuesday, the number of cases globally is 332,478,236, including 5,550,883 fatalities. As many as 9.67 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.
The effectiveness of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron coronavirus variant is 75%, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of Russia's Gamaleya Research Center, said.
The Russian side has already submitted most data on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO), and the organization expects to receive the remaining documents in late January, the WHO told Sputnik.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is not ruling out allowing four COVID-19 vaccine doses for people with weak immune systems but is not recommending a booster dose to the whole population yet, Dr. Marco Cavaleri, the head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy at the EMA, said.
The EMA said it had found no signs of threat posed by Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to expectant mothers and their unborn babies.
The efficacy of booster doses against COVID-19 may dwindle due to repeated injections over short periods, as it takes time for the immune system to respond, Marco Cavaleri, the head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said.
Biotechnological company Moderna is working to create a single shot vaccine against both flu and coronavirus by autumn 2023, Moderna's Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said.
Pharmaceutical company Merck announced in a press release that it has reached a deal with the United Nations Children's Fund to supply up to 3 million doses of the COVID-19 treatment molnupiravir to low and middle-income countries in the first half of 2022.
US pharmaceutical company Pfizer said that its oral treatment Paxlovid had shown efficacy against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus during laboratory tests.
Russia has confirmed 31,252 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, up from 30,726 the day before, which brings the cumulative total to 10,865,512, the federal response center said. Over the past 24 hours, 688 deaths of patients with COVID-19 have been confirmed, bringing the country's total coronavirus death toll to 322,678.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin called on the country's employers on Tuesday to switch their workers to remote work wherever it is possible due to the current dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Israel and Russia are discussing the technical details of mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates, Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi said.
Foreign travelers arriving in Sweden are no longer required to provide a negative COVID-19 test to enter the country, the Swedish government announced.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added 22 more countries, including Egypt, Israel, Australia, and Argentina, to its "Avoid travel" list due to high COVID-19 risk there.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that Japan's borders would continue to be closed to foreigners until the end of February, with few exceptions.
Almost 150,000 children in India have lost one or both parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights said.
European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said that factors contributing to high inflation in the European Union will diminish, but not earlier than in the second half of the year.
The economic growth in the European Union could be undermined by the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, China's economic slowdown creating issues for global supply chains, and inflation, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
A logistics facility near the Beijing Capital International Airport has ceased operation after traces of COVID-19 virus were detected in a number of parcels, Chinese state media Global Times reported.
