Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2021) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 4.969 million, almost 244.8 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 20:00 GMT Wednesday, the number of cases globally is 244,889,529, including 4,969,041 fatalities. As many as 6.88 billion of vaccine doses have been administered to date.

The Russian Health Ministry approved simultaneous administration of the Sputnik Light single-component COVID-19 vaccine and vaccines against influenza, according to drug instructions published in the state register of medicines.

Registration of a Russian coronavirus vaccine for children is expected soon, Alexander Gintsburg, director of Russia's Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Sputnik.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden has recommended giving a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents over 65 and healthcare professionals.

The US food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted during a meeting on Tuesday to recommend the Pfizer COVID-19 shot for children aged 5 to 11-years old.

Australia will allocate at least 10 million coronavirus vaccine doses and a financial aid package of 124 million Australian Dollars (almost $93 million) to Southeast Asian countries by mid-2022, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

The G20 leaders have been urged to improve on their goals of reaching equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution to poorer nations, a global watchdog made the call ahead of the G20 summit taking place in Rome next week.

Russia registered 36,582 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, up from 36,446 the day before, bringing the cumulative total to 8,352,601, the federal response center said.

The French government is alarmed by a rising trend in COVID-19 cases, with hospital admissions continuing to edge upwards, a cabinet spokesperson said.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and his Israeli counterpart, Nitzan Horowitz, discussed the mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine certificates on Wednesday during a phone conversation, the Russian Health Ministry said.

Closing the borders of Russia's regions is a last-resort measure that is unwanted, and no travel bans will be introduced during the non-working days despite epidemiologists' concerns, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russians vaccinated With Sputnik V can enter Israel starting from November 15 but if Russia is included in the so-called COVID-19 red list of countries then the dates may change, Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov told Sputnik.

Venezuela is lifting coronavirus-related restrictions, allowing all businesses and institutions to operate for the next two months starting November 1, President Nicolas Maduro said.

The coronavirus pandemic through 2020 and 2021 has set the world back at least ten years in the fight to eliminate hunger in the developing countries, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Lesley Ziman told a congressional hearing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed East Asian countries to establish a common mechanism against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Governments around the world must get the coronavirus pandemic under control next year or risk seeing the virus mutate into new, unpredictable and potentially more dangerous forms, US Agency for International Development (USAID) COVID-19 Task Force Executive Director Jeremy Konyndyk said.