Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world topped 662,000, over 16.8 million cases of infection were detected, and over 9.8 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 19:30 GMT Wednesday, the number of people infected globally is 16,824,259, of them 662,222 died.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 4,390,491, including 149,961 fatalities and 1,355,363 recoveries.

The international community is still far from acquiring herd immunity to the coronavirus infection, with the virus having a long way to circulate in communities, Michael Ryan, the executive director of the health emergencies program at the World Health Organization (WHO), said.

The narrative of the second coronavirus wave describes merely the re-emergence of the virus as a result of governments easing off the restrictions, the WHO's Ryan said.

The WHO does not yet fully understand the long-term effects of the new coronavirus disease on patients but assumes they can be more devastating than is thought, Ryan also said.

The recommended quarantine time for coronavirus-positive patients with clinical symptoms depends on when the symptoms develop and retreat, while for patients without symptoms it depends on the date of testing, Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's COVID-19 technical lead, said.

A draft study shared with the World Health Organization before it was peer-reviewed shows that severe coronavirus patients could be shedding live virus for up to three weeks, Van Kerkhove said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that regions should have a cautious approach to lifting the remaining coronavirus restrictions, since undue hurry could result in a new surge in cases

Only 24 percent of Russia's coronavirus cases suffer pneumonia, while the remaining majority are patients with either respiratory syndromes or no symptoms, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

The heard immunity to coronavirus in 10 of Russia's 85 regions currently ranges between 17 and 28 percent, Anna Popova, the head of the country's public health watchdog, said.

Some Russian regions are currently experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases, as people are neglecting preventive measures against the disease, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

There is no reason for increased concern over the outbreak of the new strain of the novel coronavirus causing the COVID-19 lung disease in Vietnam's resort city of Da Nang, as this strain has already been known to transmit in other countries, while nothing suggests that mutations of the virus caused any changes to its severity or transmissibility, Dr. Kidong Park, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Vietnam, told Sputnik.

The rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa could be testifying to a broader spread of the disease across the African continent, possibly downplayed due to deficient reporting, Graciano Masauso, the founder of the Africa Health Organization (AHO), told Sputnik.

For the first time since the coronavirus outbreak's onset in Japan, health authorities have confirmed more than 1,000 new cases in one day, Japanese media reported.

The coronavirus strain circulating in Hong Kong may have stopped mutating after becoming more infectious, or it comes from the same source, a recent research has suggested.

New restrictive measures may be introduced in Turkey in connection with the increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in the country's central and eastern regions, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

The French embassy in Russia told Sputnik it would not reopen applications for tourist visas unless recommended by the European Union to officially reopen the border.

Germany will not force air travelers coming back from at-risk regions to take a coronavirus test, Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter told reporters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the upcoming local elections would be conducted with coronavirus-related restrictions and therefore require an early elaboration of an appropriate procedure.

The Colombian government has decided to extend the country's COVID-19 lockdown to August 30 amid a continued surge in new cases, although some of the measures will be eased in areas with a low rate of transmission, President Ivan Duque said.

Russia and Cuba are in talks on resuming Russian flag carrier Aeroflot's regular flights to Havana starting September 15, the Cuban Embassy in Moscow told Sputnik.

Annastacia Palaszczuk, the premier of Australia's Queensland state, declared the Greater Sydney area a new COVID-19 hotspot in the country and imposed a temporary ban on entries to the state from the region.

US energy consumption in April declined to a three-decade low largely due to pandemic restrictions, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.

Preliminary data shows that the pace of US economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down, Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell said.

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to leave Africa with grave economic and social implications that will require international assistance to be mitigated in order not to cancel out the continent's development of the past several years, Graciano Masauso, the founder of the Africa Health Organization (AHO), told Sputnik.

Russian experts continue assisting COVID-19 response teams in eight countries to fight the pandemic, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

Efforts to craft the next COVID-19 relief bill remain deadlocked over Democratic attempts to bailout poorly run, overtaxed cities while Republicans seek a narrower effort that targets people for direct payments and protection against evictions for failure to pay mortgages and rent, US President Donald Trump told reporters.

The US Postal Service (USPS) has been approved for a $10 billion government loan should it need the money to keep it afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Treasury Department said.

The Bureau of the FIFA Council has approved regulations of COVID-19 Relief Plan, making available $1.5 billion for member associations to assist them in coping with COVID-19 financial consequences, the world football's governing body said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova praised coronavirus vaccines developed by the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector as the country's most promising ones.

The vaccine against coronavirus that is developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology is already at the stage of state registration, Alexey Kuznetsov, Russian health minister's aide, told Sputnik.

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Gamaleya Institute is likely to be registered between August 10-12, and three or four days later the research center may obtain permission to put the vaccine in civil circulation, a source told Sputnik

Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector believes that industrial production of the vaccine against COVID-19 and a large-scale immunization campaign may start late in 2020 or in the beginning of 2021, Ilnaz Imatdinov, the head of Vector's laboratory, said.

The UK government has signed a deal with the pharmaceutical firms GSK and Sanofi for 60 million doses of a candidate vaccine against COVID-19.

A safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 is unlikely to be expected until the middle of 2021, the country's research minister Anja Karliczek said.

Croatia has reserved 1.5 million doses of a vaccine against COVID-19 that is being developed by European manufacturers, the country's health minister, Vili Beros, said.

Companies researching coronavirus vaccines are in a race against time, not one another, to immunize as many people as possible in the shortest possible time, Massimo Scaccabarozzi. the head of the Italian pharmaceutical association Farmindustria, said.

Biotech company Moderna wants to sell a dose of coronavirus vaccine for $25 to $30, sources close to the company's talks with potential buyers told the Financial Times (FT).