MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2020) With Italy recording far less new COVID-19 cases on Monday than on the previous day, the World Health Organization expresses hope that the country is on track to stabilize the epidemic, but reiterates call for boosting global public health efforts to defeat the coronavirus.
Germany's number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus has increased by 4,751 to 57,298, and the death toll has reached 455, with 66 of the fatalities being registered in the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute said on Monday.
Over 400 people have died from the coronavirus in France's hospitals over the past 24 hours, with the death toll exceeding 3,000, Jerome Salomon, the head of the national public health service, said on Monday, adding that the case count has surged to 44,550 from Sunday's 40,174.
Turkey has registered over 1,600 new COVID-19 cases over past 24 hours, with the total count surging to 10,827, and the number of COVID-19 fatalities has increased by 37 to 168, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Monday.
Italy has registered 812 deaths caused by COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, and the number of new cases has increased by 1,648, compared to Sunday's 3,815 increase, Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection Department, said on Monday.
The number of COVID-19 cases within the United States has surpassed 150,000, the Johns Hopkins University real-time tracker revealed on Monday. The death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 2,828.
Belgium's number of COVID1-19 cases has increased by 1,063 to 11,899 over the past 24 hours, and the death toll has increased by 82 to 513, Belgium's coronavirus response center said on Monday.
China has registered only 31 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, all but one of them imported, and over 320 people have recovered from COVID-19 in China in the past 24 hours, the country's National Health Commission informed.
The United Nations spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, confirmed on Monday that 100 UN employees worldwide tested positive for the coronavirus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's adviser on ultra-Orthodox affairs, Rivka Paluch, has tested positive for COVID-19, three days after meeting with the Israeli prime minister, according to Channel 12 broadcaster. Netanyahu and his inner circle will remain in isolation until a notice by the Health Ministry, even though they have all tested negative, the prime minister's office said on Monday.
Several regions across Russia have followed Moscow's suit and imposed mandatory self-isolation regimes and additional preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus, the local authorities announced on Monday.
Cyprus imposed a curfew on Monday to contain the spread of the coronavirus. From March 31, people are banned from leaving their homes from 9.00 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT) until 6.00 a.m. the following day, the Health Ministry said.
Zimbabwe began a 21-day nationwide lockdown on Monday.
Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has signed a decree to close the border and introduce a general quarantine across the country from March 30-April 19 due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Vientiane Times newspaper reported.
Phuket, Thailand's biggest island and major tourist destination, was put on lockdown on Monday in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported, citing the governor's order.
The Indian government on Monday refuted the allegations that it would extend the 21-day lockdown declared in light of the coronavirus pandemic once it expired.
Georgia has declared a nationwide quarantine in the country in order to confront the spreading of COVID-19, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said on Monday. In addition, Georgia is set to impose a curfew from 09.00 p.m. to 06.00 a.m. local time (17:00-02:00 GMT), according to the prime minister.
The US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson said on Monday that it expects to start by September human clinical studies on the trial vaccine for the novel coronavirus that it had developed and the first vaccine batch could be available for emergency use authorization early next year.
Russian state-owned military corporation Rostec is now developing a portable mini-laboratory for coronavirus diagnostics, Executive Director Oleg Yevtushenko told Sputnik.
Three prospective coronavirus vaccines are being developed in Russia with the participation of experts from the Russian Academy of Sciences, the academy's Vice President, Vladimir Chekhonin, told Sputnik.
Three antiviral drugs that can be used to treat COVID-19 were developed in Russia in conjunction with scholars from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chekhonin told Sputnik.
The European Union is allocating up to 1.25 billion Euros ($1.38 billion) to support the countries of the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership and help them mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission said on Monday.
Social media giant Facebook is pledging an additional $100 million to support local news organizations, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree to allocate 33.4 billion rubles ($419.17 million) to Russia's regions for equipping hospitals with extra beds and medical equipment for coronavirus patients.
The Russian government has also allocated additional funds to step up the production of ventilators in face of the coronavirus epidemic, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told Sputnik in an interview.
An aircraft with a cargo of 10,million masks that France procured from China for fight against COVID-19 has landed in the Vatry airport in the northeastern region of Marne, French BFMTV broadcaster reported.
Ukraine received 100,000 tests for the coronavirus from South Korea, which will be sent to different regions of the country after customs clearance, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Monday.
CALLS FOR SANCTIONS REMOVAL, JAILED JOURNALISTS RELEASE
Sanctions that are negatively impacting developing countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic should be removed, UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said in an interview with Sputnik.
Syria hopes that a letter sent by eight United Nations ambassadors to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday will help bring a stop to US unilateral sanctions imposed on the country, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told Sputnik.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based press freedom advocacy group, warned world leaders in an open letter published Monday that keeping media workers in jail amid the lethal coronavirus pandemic amounted to a death penalty.
