MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world reached 306,000, over 4.51 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 1.62 million of those patients were cured, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from federal and local authorities, media and other sources.
As of 21.00 GMT Friday, the number of people infected globally is 4,516,360, of them 306,051 died.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 1,432,045, including 86,851 fatalities and 246,414 recoveries.
Travelers from abroad will be able to enter Spain via five designated airports and seven sea ports while the country is quarantined over the coronavirus outbreak, according to a decree issued by the Spanish Transport Ministry.
Several famous museums in Italy will reopen on May 18, while the largest past of national museums will start receiving visitors on June 2 as the country is gradually easing coronavirus-related restrictions, Director-General of Museums at the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism Antonio Lampis told Sputnik.
Cinemas in Austria will resume operations starting on July 1, as the country is seeing improvements in the epidemiological situation, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said.
Greece has extended the suspension of air traffic with Albania, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom introduced in late March over the epidemiological situation, the Greek Civil Aviation Authority said, adding that the temporary entry ban for non-European citizens also remains in force.
Georgia will lift the nationwide state of emergency, imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, on May 22, with no new extensions expected, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said.
Beaches in the US states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware will open on May 22 for Memorial Day weekend with a limited capacity amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
Thailand will start the second phase of easing the coronavirus-related restrictions on Sunday by opening shopping malls and other previously closed retail and catering services as well as sports facilities, a spokesman for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration, Thaweesin Visanuyothin, said.
The coronavirus-triggered economic crisis and food insecurity could kill more people in Jordan and elsewhere than COVID-19 itself, King Abdullah II said in an interview with the German magazine Spiegel.
China has been working to revive its economy, which was undermined by the COVID-19 outbreak, but the process is being hampered by the ongoing epidemic in other countries, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
The European Union lacks unity, as was demonstrated by the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that non-member partners provided Hungary with more help than the bloc nations, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
The European Union faces a repeat of the migrant crisis as the global coronavirus shutdown continues to weigh on African economies, the EU police agency said in a report.
The US economy is still in a freefall despite the fact most states in the United States have started to reopen from lockdowns imposed over the novel coronavirus pandemic, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said.
Retail sales fin the United States fell 16.4 percent in April compared to the previous month as the impact of the lockdowns implemented against COVID-19 peaked, the Census Bureau said.
The United States and South Korea have not yet fully restored joint military exercises due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said.
The coronavirus pandemic will have a negative impact on the economy and social sphere, and this may lead to an increase in criminal activity, such as drug trafficking, illegal migration and terrorism, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Stanislav Zas told Sputnik.
The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) did not issue the necessary permits for Russian military doctors, who were supposed to arrive in the country in early May to help fight the COVID-19 epidemic at their earlier request, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the government's wage subsidy program will be extended until the end of August. Trudeau also announced $318.6 million in new funding for the nation's research community that has faced funding shortages amid the pandemic.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that it had stepped up its activities in conflict-torn Libya to provide emergency assistance to refugees and internally displaced people amid the pandemic.
Policies by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic must include proactive measures to meet the mental health needs of vulnerable populations, such as migrants and displaced people, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin tasked the authorities with administering more COVID-19 tests across the country, the Kremlin said.
Russian biotech company Biocad will not export a potential coronavirus vaccine until the demand at home is met, its chief executive told Sputnik.
Pre-clinical trials of Mefloquine show it suppressing the cytopathic effect of the coronavirus within 48 hours in a very small dose, Veronika Skvortsova, the head of the Russian Federal Biomedical Agency, said.
Russian helicopters Ansat will be able to transport COVID-19 patients in pod-like isolation units, Russian Helicopters holding, subsidiary of state corporation Rostec, said.
US Presidential Donald Trump announced during a press conference on Friday an initiative called "Operation Warp Speed" to having a vaccine for COVID-19 available by January 2021 at the very least.
The United States expects to have at least one safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 by the end of this year from a batch of trial vaccines it is working on, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Fox business.
French President Emmanuel Macron will meet the chief executive of national pharmaceutical giant Sanofi in Paris on Tuesday for talks on coronavirus vaccine, media said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will launch a platform to share data about health tools that can be used to in the coronavirus response, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Katherine Seley-Radtke, a prominent medicinal chemist and the president-elect of the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR), dispelled concerns over the possible shortages of Remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug for treating COVID-19 patients, which many fear takes too long to produce. The US-produced Remdesivir is unlikely to become a universal solution for eradicating the coronavirus but is still an important part of a drug cocktail to fight the disease, she told Sputnik.
Roughly 15 percent of the United Kingdom's frontline workers are at risk of becoming critically ill should they contract COVID-19 because of underlying health conditions, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said.
China strongly supports Russia's efforts to combat the coronavirus and believes that the international community should unite to defeat the pandemic together, rather than look for those responsible for the outbreak or rush to conclusions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, commenting on media allegations that Russia was manipulating its COVID-19 statistics.
China has never received any request from the World Health Organization (WHO) to attend any laboratory in the country, therefore claims of China's denial of access to the laboratory in Wuhan are not true, the ombudsman of the international affairs department of China's National Health Commission said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed US accusations against China over COVID-19, saying that one should not make accusations without proof. The Russian government has no intention to conceal information about the national COVID-19 death rate, he also said.
The United Kingdom has not presented any proof of Russia's alleged cyberattacks on universities working on a vaccine against the coronavirus, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov told Sputnik.
