Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 586,000, over 13.6 million cases of infection were detected, and over 7.63 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 21:00 GMT Thursday, the number of people infected globally is 13,670,822, of them 586,369 died.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 3,546,871, including 138,072 fatalities and 1,075,882 recoveries.

The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it was working with the United States and Canada to identify hacker attacks affecting pharmaceutical companies and scientists in several countries. According to the center, Russian intelligence-linked hackers tried to steal data on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine from three countries.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev rejected these allegations.

The United Kingdom's Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined to share any details on alleged Russian hacking of UK research facilities working on developing coronavirus vaccines while taking questions from members of parliament.

The United States and its allies will continue working to protect COVID-19 vaccine research from being stolen by hackers, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany told reporters.

The Spanish Health Ministry said on Thursday that it had recorded 580 new coronavirus cases nationwide in the past day, the highest daily increase since May 10.

Hospitals in Florida's Miami have reached 95 percent capacity due to the COVID-19 surge and are projected to be completely full in a month, Mayor Francis Suarez said.

There are "weak signals" of the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in some hospitals in Paris, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

Hospitals across Iran lack health workers and beds while the country struggles with the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, Reza Jalili Khoshnood, a deputy head of Iran's coronavirus response center, said.

The Council of the European Union removed Serbia and Montenegro from its list of countries for which coronavirus-related travel restrictions were considered to be safe to be lifted, which comes amid the spike in COVID-19 cases in the Balkan countries.

The United States has reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico to extend border restrictions that limit non-essential travel until August 20 amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement.

The US administration will continue to allow localities across the country to decide whether to make wearing face masks mandatory amid the coronavirus outbreak, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters.

Sri Lanka may open borders for foreign tourists after August 15 and the government is doing everything possible to accelerate this process, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Moscow Mikhalgalande Durage Lamawansa said.

An oil tanker sailing from Nigeria has been quarantined near the Spanish port of Castellon after COVID-19 was detected aboard, the Efe news agency reported.

Doctors Without Borders urged the Greek government to lift "discriminatory" COVID-19 lockdown for migrants in island reception centers, saying that the long restriction of movement has already generated more violence and affected mental health of the facilities' inhabitants.

China's GDP rose by 3.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, but fell by 1.6 percent within the first six months of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

A stepped up push to move microelectronics and drug manufacturing from China back to the United States represents a silver lining to the novel coronavirus crisis, with the Defense Department able to use the Defense Production Act to help finance the effort, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Ellen Lord said.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of work but employers will have plenty of decisions to make about their future employment parameters, International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder said.

The pandemic complicates positive medium-term predictions regarding the situation in the global agricultural sector by depressing demand and is likely to further upset food security down the road, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

The Republican Party will limit attendance at next month's convention to nominate President Donald Trump for a second term in office in a bid to dodge the a novel coronavirus pandemic raging in several US states, including Florida, where the event will be held, the Washington Post reported.

The UK government is planning to raise a record 385 billion Pounds ($485 billion) from bond market investors from April to November to fund COVID-19 spending, increasing the issue of debt securities by 110 billion pounds for the period starting in September, the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) said.

A plane carrying medical supplies has departed from Ankara to Venezuela to help combat the coronavirus pandemic per Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's directives, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

Spain's autonomous region of Aragon has decided to eliminate more than 90,000 mink due to the coronavirus infection. The elimination will take place at a farm in La Puebla de Valverde municipality, where 87 percent of the animals have been diagnosed with the disease, despite showing no symptoms.

The United Nations expressed gratitude to Russia for being first air carrier to agree to transfer COVID-19 patients on UN medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) flights, a joint statement by Russia and the organization said.

The second phase of trials of Russia's vaccine against coronavirus, which is developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, will be completed on August 3, and the first phase will be conducted not only in Russia but abroad as well, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.

The RDIF is in talks with Saudi Arabia on conducting in the country the third phase of clinical trials of Russia's Gamaleya Institute-developed vaccine against coronavirus, and also on producing the vaccine there, Dmitriev also said.

The RDIF believes that Avifavir, a Russian medication against coronavirus, could be produced in Cuba, and relevant negotiations are already underway, Dmitriev said.

Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, on Thursday urged everyone to stay responsible and stick to coronavirus precautionary measures until the humanity secures effective treatment or a vaccine, warning that the virus can collide with influenza and other diseases in the fall.