The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 738,000, over 20.15 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 12.4 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
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 738,000, over 20.15 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 12.4 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 19:30 GMT Tuesday, the number of cases globally is 20,158,258, including 738,063 fatalities.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 5,116,791, including 164,137 fatalities and 1,670,755 recoveries.
Russia became the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, which was developed jointly by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute and the Defense Ministry. President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters had received the inoculation. The vaccine will be named Sputnik V. The two-stage injection of the vaccine helps form an immunity that can last up to two years, the health ministry said.
Further trials of the first Russian COVID-19 vaccine with approximately 2,000 participants will be held after the registration, Roszdravnadzor, the federal service for surveillance in healthcare, told Sputnik.
Russia has submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO) the information about the vaccine against COVID-19 and expects the WHO to soon add it on the vaccine list, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.
The WHO is in contact with the Russian government on assessing the efficiency and safety of the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, WHO official Tarik Jasarevic said.
Russia has already received preliminary requests for 1 billion doses of its vaccine against COVID-19 from over 20 countries, Dmitriev said.
Russia is capable of producing 500 million doses of its vaccine against COVID-19 in the next 12 months, with production expected to be conducted abroad as well and clinical trials set to start soon in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, Dmitriev said.
Russia is ready to cooperate on the coronavirus vaccine research with the United States, Dmitriev said. He expressed hope on Tuesday that Russia would receive approval for its COVID-19 vaccine use from a range of Latin American countries by November.
The third phase of clinical trials of Russia's vaccine against coronavirus will start on Wednesday and all the information will be released publicly, Dmitriev said. RDIF and its partners have invested four billion rubles ($55 million) in the production of the coronavirus vaccine in Russia, he also said.
The technology used for developing Russian Microbiology Research Center Gamaleya's vaccine against COVID-19 has already been implemented while creating vaccines against other diseases, therefore there is no need to postpone registration, Nikolay Briko, the Russian Health Ministry's chief epidemiologist, told Sputnik.
The authorities of the Brazilian state of Parana will sign an agreement on Wednesday on tests, production and distribution of Sputnik V, the new Russian vaccine against the coronavirus, the G1 news portal reported.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said that he would volunteer to take the Russia-made coronavirus vaccine to test it, and the country's government voiced a readiness to cooperate with Moscow on the vaccine's clinical trials and production.
The United States has prioritized developing a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine over being first to market, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.
The Russian novel coronavirus vaccine lags behind vaccine candidates developed in the United States and reportedly does not seem to be in the human trials phase, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters.
The Russian vaccine will likely not be approved in Canada at this time, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Howard Njoo told reporters.
Israel intends to initiate talks with Russia on purchasing its new COVID-19 vaccine if it proves to be effective in treating the disease, the country's health minister, Yuli Edelstein, said.
The European Union is not engaged in a dialogue with Moscow regarding the purchase of Russia's newly-registered COVID-19 vaccine, Permanent Representative of Russia to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told Sputnik.
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev in his opinion piece for Sputnik slammed foreign attempts to undermine the credibility of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus and called for a "political ceasefire" amid the pandemic.
Cambodia will halt air traffic with the Philippines starting from Thursday after seeing an increased number of COVID-19 cases imported from the archipelago nation, local media reported.
Russia's gross domestic product fell by an estimated 8.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020, which is better than the Economic Development Ministry's forecast of 9.6 percent, Russian statistics watchdog Rosstat said.
US shipments of liquefied natural gas to overseas customers plunged more than 60 percent in the first six months of 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic with liquefaction plants operating at one-third capacity, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.
The Philippine government suspended the evacuation of US armed forces because of concerns over the recent aggressive behavior by China in the region and the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Inspector-General of Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines said in a report to the US Congress.
The Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia) is trying to take advantage of the Philippines armed forces' efforts to help fight the novel coronavirus pandemic to strengthen its position and make new advances, the Inspector-General of Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines said.
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said on Tuesday that the disruption of essential health services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the region of the Americas hinders efforts to control other infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has hit out at Iranian authorities over the closure of the Jahan Sanaat newspaper for reporting an opinion on the coronavirus death toll in the country.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on special retirement benefits for health workers engaged in the COVID-19 response, which envision counting each working day as two, the decree posted on Russia's legal information portal read.
India and Israel are exchanging information on cybersecurity as part of a bilateral cooperation framework for countering threats emanating from the rapid digitization of processes amid the coronavirus pandemic, Deputy Chief of Israeli Mission to India Rony Yedidia-Clein told Sputnik in an interview.
The testing of four Israeli rapid coronavirus diagnostic tools in India is expected to be completed in a matter of weeks and pave the way for tests that can detect COVID-19 in less than a minute, Deputy Chief of Israeli Mission to India Rony Yedidia-Clein told Sputnik in an interview.
