Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 2.396 million, over 108.7 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.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with over 27.6 million cases, including 484,721 fatalities.

More than 50 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Lebanon expects to procure Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V through private companies, as the country will not be able to allocate public funds for this purpose, Assem Araji, the head of the Lebanese parliament's health committee, told Sputnik.

The power outages caused by the recent earthquake in Japan did not affect the safe storage of COVID-19 vaccines at the required temperature, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Sunday.

Future deliveries of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to Venezuela will be organized in accordance with the agreed schedule and available production capacity, Russian Ambassador to the Latin American country Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov told Sputnik.

Japan has formally greenlighted the first coronavirus vaccine � the one developed by the US' Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech � for domestic use, the Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday

French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that Russian and Chinese vaccines should play a bigger role in a coordinated global effort to beat the coronavirus pandemic, which he called a "world war."

More than eight million people in India have received vaccines against the coronavirus since the start of the mass vaccination campaign, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Sunday.

North Macedonia is on the way to start its mass vaccination campaign, after receiving on Sunday the first batch of Pfizer vaccines from Serbia.

Mexico has received the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine doses against coronavirus from India on Sunday, the health authority announced.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Sunday the "extraordinary feat" of injecting 15 million people with at least one dose of an anti-coronavirus vaccine.

The first batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus may arrive in Mexico late this week, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday.

New Zealand is imposing its first lockdown restrictions since October on the city of Auckland � its most populous city � for three days after three COVID-19 community cases were reported, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Sunday.

The Czech cabinet declared a two-week state of emergency at the request of regional authorities due to worsening COVID-19 dynamics in circumvention of parliament's opposition, the Czech Television reported on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia is extending COVID-19 restrictions for 20 days.

The initial foreign expectations were that Russia was not going to be able to withstand the coronavirus, but it turned out that it did better than other countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. According to the Russian president, the most unbiased indicator of success in dealing with COVID-19 is the number of infected people per every 100,000 of a given population. The Russian president admitted that there is a high level of healthcare in the West, but it is available only to selected groups, not the general population, like in Russia.

China rejects Washington's statement questioning the report by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the origins of the coronavirus and its credibility due to alleged intervention by Beijing, the Chinese Embassy in the US said on Sunday. The embassy also expressed hope that Washington would adhere to highest standards itself, as well as support the WHO's work with real actions and make due contribution to the global cooperation on COVID-19.

Hundreds of Greek protesters unhappy about the mask duty clashed with police in the center of Athens on Sunday. About 400 demonstrators flocked to Syntagma Square, outside the national parliament, after a rally was called on social media to protest coronavirus rules. A large banner comparing masks to muzzles and demanding that people "get our lives back" was unfurled in the crowd. Some people carried Greek flags and sang the national anthem.