Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 4.676 million, over 227.4 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 20:35 GMT Friday, the number of cases globally is 227,410,670, including 4,676,132 fatalities. As many as 5.85 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Sputnik he under no circumstances could deny world leaders entry to the UN General Assembly Hall if they had no proof of vaccination against the COVID-19 disease.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for timely revaccination against COVID-19, noting that some of his security, protocol and press service employees did not undergo revaccination on time and fell ill.

Russian-made vaccine Sputnik V proved to be more effective than the vaccines by AstraZeneca and Sinopharm in fighting the Delta strain, Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported citing a research by the national university of Cordoba.

Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm has launched production of a COVID-19 vaccine licensed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca for export purposes, Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Osmakov said.

Russia is launching pre-clinical trials of simultaneous administration of vaccines against flu and the coronavirus, based on study results, a decision on further steps will be made, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

Russian pharmaceutical company Nanolek is currently at an early proof-of-concept stage of developing a combined vaccine against COVID-19 and flu, it is exploring the possibility of creating such a drug, Nanolek President Vladimir Khristenko announced.

Moderna and Pfizer applied for authorization of a third booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccines in Switzerland, the national medical body said.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday that the number of citizens who received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose had passed 50 million.

US medical authorities are giving priority to combating "vaccine hesitancy" among the remaining 74 million adult Americans who have not agreed to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said.

An advisory panel to the US food and Drug Administration voted overwhelmingly to reject Pfizer-BioNTech's booster shots for the coronavirus vaccine.

As many as 22.5 million Indians were vaccinated against COVID-19 within the past 24 hours, which has become a record number, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said.

Russia recorded 19,905 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, up from 19,594 the day before, bringing the cumulative total to 7,234,425, the federal response center said.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by 34,407 to 21,069,017 within the past 24 hours, the national ministry of health said.

Individuals inoculated with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 are now allowed to enter Estonia, the Estonian Embassy in Moscow told Sputnik.

All arrivals to Switzerland who have not been vaccinated against or recovered from the coronavirus will be subject to a test for the disease upon arrival, and another after four to seven days, starting September 20, the government said.

An analysis of body mass index data from more than 400,000 Americans ages 2 to 19 showed children who were obese when the coronavirus pandemic began gained an average of 1-to-1.2 Pounds per month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report.

Colonel Matthew McCall, the new military judge behind the 9/11 case, abruptly canceled the final day of the hearing in Guantanamo due to a case of an illness related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Times reported.

Russia allocated about 3 trillion rubles (over $41 billion) to support the population during the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is experiencing a significant shortfall in funding, which cripples its efforts to help displaced people cope with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, UNHCR's Chief of Public Health Section, Ann Burton, said.

US President Joe Biden will convene COVID-19 summit with participation of world leaders on September 22 on the margins of the UN General Assembly, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that he wanted the cabinet minister in charge of COVID-19 vaccination to succeed him as the leader of the governing party, who will eventually take the country's top job.