Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 930,000, almost 29.4 million cases of infection were detected, and almost 20 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 29,386,463, including 930,589 fatalities.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 6,585,763, including 195,275 fatalities and 2,477,942 recoveries.

The results of Phase 1 and 2 trials of the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, Sputnik V, published in the Lancet journal in September feature it as a promising candidate, as it has shown acceptable levels of safety and immunogenicity, though a relatively low number of people have taken part in the tests, Muhammad Munir, a molecular virologist at the UK's Lancaster University, told Sputnik.

Russia will start producing its experimental vaccine against COVID-19 for animals already next month, Anna Popova, the head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) said.

Russia's Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products is proceeding to the clinical trials of its live weakened vaccine against COVID-19, Rospotrebnadzor's Popova said.

Russian research center Vektor has not found any significant mutations of the coronavirus, Popova said.

Over 300 volunteers have been inoculated during the post-registration trials of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, around 14 percent of them have reported fatigue, muscle pain or high body temperature, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

Russia has been getting requests for its coronavirus vaccine from Africa and will address them, but has to attend to its own people first, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Oleg Ozerov, who serves as the head of the secretariat for the Russian-African partnership forum, told Sputnik.

Germany would like to get more information about the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

The South Korean government will secure enough COVID-19 vaccines to administer to 60 percent of the country's population, which accounts for 30 million people, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said.

Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor believes that there was no second wave of COVID-19 this summer, watchdog chief Anna Popova said.

The steady rise of novel coronavirus cases in Canada is a cause for concern, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam told reporters. Since the beginning of September, the Canadian authorities have recorded more than 10,000 new infections, including more than 6,000 in the last week alone, according to government data.

At least 366 journalists from 47 countries have died from COVID-19 since March, non-governmental organization Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned governments of negative the consequences of the closure of schools for a long period of time over the COVID-19 pandemic and called for providing children with access to proper education.

All educational institutions across Pakistan reopened on Tuesday after a six-month break over the spread of the coronavirus infection, media reported.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree on opening the border with South Ossetia, the cabinet said.

Public opinion of the United States hit new lows in many of 13 advanced nations, primarily due to widespread criticism of Washington's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to a PEW Research Center poll.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan ordered a massive study into the future challenges and opportunities facing the heart of the UK capital as a result of long-term COVID-19 social and economic effects.

UK's unemployment rate climbed to 4.1 percent in the three months to July from 3.9 percent in the previous quarter, although the economy has started to give signs of recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported.

Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport expects a 57-percent year-on-year drop in passenger traffic in 2020 to 21.5 million people, the airport's first deputy general director, Andrey Nikulin, said.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for more research into the factors that increase risks of severe COVID-19 cases among children and teenagers.

Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle on Tuesday warned that mafia organizations seek to target the European Union's COVID-19 recovery fund, which aims at helping countries overcome the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

The US government made deals with seven technology developers in business and academia to develop tools such as smartphone applications to help battle the novel coronavirus pandemic, including tools to trace contacts or monitor test result, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said.