Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 4.14 million, over 192.9 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.

As of 20:20 GMT Friday, the number of cases globally is 192,933,865, including 4,140,683 fatalities. As many as 3.77 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.

As many as 35 million Russians have already received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with the number of those vaccinated surging by over 2 million in the past week, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

The final report on the study of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 will be prepared by October, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko announced.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Argentine Health Ministry held a meeting and agreed to accelerate the deliveries of Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V to the Latin American country, the joint statement says.

The Spanish government intends to go on with its vaccination campaign against the coronavirus in 2022 and 2023, and is considering a third dose, Health Minister Carolina Darias said.

The US government will be purchasing an additional 200 million COVID vaccine doses from Pfizer in order to meet future needs such as booster shots and the vaccination of children, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Australia's drug regulator pre-approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for use in individuals aged 12 years and older.

Russia registered 23,811 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 24,471 the day before, taking the overall tally to 6,078,522, the federal response center said.

The Russian capital has made it through several coronavirus infection peaks and is currently seeing a drop in daily cases, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

India has confirmed 35,342 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of those infected having reached 31,293,062, the country's ministry of health and family welfare said.

Tokyo metropolitan government recorded 1,359 daily coronavirus cases, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported, amid public concern about surging infections in the capital city where the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games will be held later in the day.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by 49,757 to 19,523,711 within the past 24 hours, the national ministry of health said.

The Organizing Committee of the Tokyo Summer Olympics said that 19 more people linked to the games had been diagnosed with COVID-19, including three of them in the Olympic village.

The UK government exempts food production and supply sector workers from coronavirus-related quarantine in a bid to avoid food shortages as the so-called pingdemic puts pressure on the sector, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

New restrictions will apply to travel from the Netherlands and Spain to Germany starting July 27 as Berlin has designated them areas of high coronavirus incidence, the state-linked Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said.

Australians traveling in New Zealand through at least the next eight weeks will have to quarantine upon arrival, the New Zealand government said.

Some foreign athletes living in the Olympic Village in Tokyo have been unable to undergo daily PCR testing for coronavirus as required due to a shortage of testing kits, the NHK broadcaster reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Biden administration is cutting by a quarter the mortgage payments for homeowners hit by hardship from the coronavirus pandemic measures and moving missed payments until the end of the borrowing period to prevent foreclosures, the White House said.

The plan proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the second stage of investigations into the origins of COVID-19 echoes the US lab leak theory and is a product of political manipulation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

Australia's athletic apparel retailer Lorna Jane has been fined 5 million Australian Dollars ($3.7 million) for misleading the public over claims that its clothes allegedly prevent the transmission of viruses, including COVID-19, the competition and consumer commission (ACCC) said.

Climate change triggered by "the greed of humanity" is the root cause of the coronavirus pandemic raging across the world, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.