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A man weeps as his mother is being treated inside a COVID-19 intensive care unit of a government-run hospital, amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh, India, 11 May 2021. - Sputnik International

Live Updates: India Reports Less Than 300,000 New COVID-19 Cases For First Time Since April

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The global death toll from the coronavirus infection topped 3.374 million as of Sunday; over 162.7 million cases of the infection have been detected, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from federal and local authorities, the media and other sources.

The US is still the most-affected nation amid the pandemic; over 32.9 million have been infected and the death toll exceeds 585,000. Next is India, with over 24.6 million confirmed cases and more than 270,000 deaths; followed by Brazil, with 15.6 million confirmed cases and over 435,000 fatalities.

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00:10 GMT 18.05.2021

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has allowed the storage of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus in normal fridge conditions, at 35 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, for up to 31 days.

According to initial demands from manufacturers, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures between -80 to -60 degrees Celsius (-112 to -76 degrees Fahrenheit). EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended a change to the approved storage conditions.

"This change extends the approved storage period of the unopened thawed vial at 2-8°C (i.e. in a normal fridge after taking out of deep-freeze conditions) from five days to one month (31 days). The change was approved following assessment of additional stability study data submitted to EMA by the marketing authorisation holder," the EMA said on Monday.

According to the EU regulator, the increased flexibility in the storage and handling of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is expected to have a significant impact on planning and logistics of vaccine rollout across the European Union and will facilitate the handling of the vaccine at medical centers.

In February, US authorities approved the storage and transport of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at standard freezer temperatures of -15 to -25 degrees Celsius (5 to -13 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to two weeks.

23:11 GMT 17.05.2021

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The sixth shipment of Russian Sputnik V vaccines to Mexico has arrived from Moscow, Mexico's state-run vaccine manufacturer, Birmex, informs.

"At 12:48 pm [17:48 GMT] on Monday, Mexico received the sixth shipment with 500 thousand doses of packaged Sputnik V vaccines against COVID-19, produced in Russia by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology," Birmex said in a Monday release.

According to the statement, the vaccine shipment arrived at the Mexico City International Airport from Moscow.

A delegation of Mexican experts led by Birmex head Pedro Zenteno Santaella is currently on a visit to Moscow to study technologies for producing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus.

In April, the Mexican government said that Birmex was planning to cooperate with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in organizing Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine bottling and packaging in Mexico.

The Latin American nation authorized the emergency use of Sputnik V on February 2, and received the first batch of the Russian vaccines on February 22.

In August 2020, Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine against the coronavirus, dubbed Sputnik V, and developed by the Gamaleya research institute. The vaccine has been approved for emergency use in 66 countries worldwide.

According to an interim analysis from a trial published in The Lancet medical journal, the vaccine has 91.6 percent efficacy. Meanwhile, the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) have reported that Sputnik V has 97.6 percent efficacy.

23:09 GMT 17.05.2021

ZURICH, Switzerland (Sputnik) - More than 130 people in Switzerland have contracted the coronavirus after receiving both shots of the vaccine, with 12 cases being fatal, according to the latest data provided by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) on Monday.

From January 1 to May 14, 134 vaccinees were infected with the deadly virus, with most of them aged 80 and over. Of those infected, 27 people were hospitalized and 12 died.

The lowest number of COVID-19 infections after the vaccination was recorded among people aged 20-29. In this age group, only one man and two women tested positive for COVID-19.

"Since most of the elderly have been vaccinated so far, the number of infections after vaccination is higher in older people. In addition, the effectiveness of the vaccine may decrease with age. We will closely monitor the developments," a FOPH representative told Sputnik, adding that no COVID-19 vaccine is 100% effective against the virus.

So far, more than 1.1 million people, or roughly 14% of the population, have been inoculated in Switzerland. The country has approved three vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, and currently considers AstraZeneca's application.

23:09 GMT 17.05.2021

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US state of California will keep face mask requirements in place until June 15, Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said on Monday.

"On June 15, California plans to implement the CDC’s guidelines around masking to allow fully vaccinated Californians to go without a mask in most indoor settings," Ghaly said in a statement.

He said the four-week period will give Californians time to prepare for the change and achieve greater number of vaccinations, particularly in underserved communities.

Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amended its guidelines to allow fully vaccinated people not to wear a mask or physically distance during most outdoor or indoor activities.

18:26 GMT 17.05.2021

Russia's delegation will travel to Turkey to assess the situation and the prospects for the resumption of air traffic, the office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.

According to the report, the possibility of restoring air traffic and an active tourist flow between Russia and Turkey became the main topic of Golikova's meeting with a delegation from Turkey. According to the deputy prime minister, the issue of resuming flights and tourism will be decided on the basis of criteria approved by the coronavirus response centre for assessing the sanitary and epidemiological situation, taking into account the level of new infections in Turkey and Russia.

"To assess the situation and prospects for the resumption of air traffic, the parties agreed to hold consultations between Rospotrebnadzor and the responsible agencies of Turkey, as well as a visit to Turkey by a Russian delegation, which will include representatives of the relevant executive authorities and the industry community," the statement says.

18:24 GMT 17.05.2021

Nearly a quarter of Americans feel they are worse off financially compared to a year earlier, a Federal Reserve survey on the fallout and distress resulting from COVID-19 showed on Monday even as the central bank’s vice chairman forecast the best growth in 35 years for the economy.

“In the fourth quarter of 2020, nearly one-fourth of adults said that they were worse off financially compared to a year earlier, reflecting the economic fallout and distress resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic,” the Fed said in its Economic Well-Being of US Households in 2020 survey.

The worst-hit were those who lost jobs in the economic downturn that followed the breakout of the virus, the central bank said.

“Those who were laid off during the pandemic typically had a relatively small financial cushion to begin with, as less than two-thirds of those who were laid off said they were doing at least okay financially in late 2019, before experiencing job loss,” it said.

The Fed said people who retained their jobs during the pandemic generally had stable or improving finances in 2020.

“However, those who suffered a layoff and an extended period of unemployment saw a deterioration of their financial circumstances,” the central bank said.  “Layoffs during the pandemic were concentrated among workers with fewer financial resources, which further exacerbated pre-existing disparities in their financial well-being.”

There were disparities as well among the ethnic groups hit by the crisis, with minority Blacks and Hispanics, along with non-college educated people, taking a bigger impact than majority Whites and those with college degrees.

The survey was published as Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said on Monday the economy could expand by as much as 7.0 percent in 2021, upping the central bank’s official forecast of a 6.5 percent growth.

If his forecast was met, it would be the fastest pace of US growth in 35 years, Clarida said, adding that first-quarter data signaled that such expectations were realistic.

The US economy shrank 3.5 percent in 2020 but rebounded by a dynamic 6.4 percent in the first quarter.

Clarida, however, warned that the rebound was still in “a very fluid period” citing the estimated 8 million jobs that remained lost nearly a year after the onset of the pandemic.

18:24 GMT 17.05.2021

President Joe Biden said on Monday that the number of COVID-19 deaths is down by 81 percent while new coronavirus cases decline in all 50 US states for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

“Today, for the first time since the pandemic began pandemic cases are down in all 50 states, first time,” Biden said. “Deaths are down from COVID by 81 percent and also at their lowest level since April of 2020.”

18:23 GMT 17.05.2021

New York State will end this week the requirement to wear masks for those residents who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus thereby adopting the new guidance issued earlier by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.

"Effective Wednesday, [New York State] will adopt the CDC's new mask [and] social distancing guidance for vaccinated people," Cuomo said. "Unvaccinated people should continue to wear a mask."

Cuomo said masks will still be required for residents using the public transit system, in schools and in some communal settings. Meanwhile, the governor said it is up to private venues to decide whether to require customers to wear masks.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Thursday said that the agency had updated its COVID-19 guidance for fully vaccinated people, recommending indoor and outdoor activities of any size without wearing a face mask or physical distancing.

17:25 GMT 17.05.2021
16:56 GMT 17.05.2021

A high-level Turkish delegation briefed Russian officials on Monday about efforts to rein in coronavirus cases in Turkey in a push for Russia to lift restrictions on air traffic, media reported.

Earlier in the day, a Turkish source told Sputnik that Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and Deputy Health Minister Tolga Tolunay would arrive in Russia on Monday for talks with Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

According to Turkrus news website, the Turkish delegation informed Russian officials about COVID-19 measures and a decrease in infections in Turkey.

Russia suspended most flights to Turkey from April 15 to June 1 over the COVID-19 outbreak in the country popular with Russian tourists.

Turkey imposed a full lockdown from April 29 to May 17. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday that the country will considerably relax the COVID-19 rules in June.

16:44 GMT 17.05.2021

US President Joe Biden will announce a decision to share by July 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccines with the rest of the world, including 20 million authorized for domestic consumption, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday.

"He [Biden] will also be announcing that the United States will send 20 million doses authorized for use in the United States to... countries battling the pandemic by the end of June. This is in addition to sending all of the manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine doses overseas over May and June as soon as the 60 million doses are cleared," Psaki said during a press briefing.

Biden is expected to make the announcement later on Monday.

"So that is a total of 80 million doses and this is the most doses donated by any country in the world by five times," Psaki said.

The US authorities have provided emergency authorization to three types of vaccines manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson. Astra Zeneca has failed to win the approval of the US regulators and has been restricted or prohibited in nearly two dozen countries.

16:20 GMT 17.05.2021

The world needs to boost the production of vaccines, doubling or even tripling it, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Trade Organization chief, said at the Paris Peace Forum on Monday.

"We need to scale up manufacturing [of vaccines]. Right now the world is capable of manufacturing about 5 billion doses of all kinds of vaccines but now we need to double that - to 10-15 billion doses. And the point is that we don't have the manufacturing capacity to do this," she said.

According to the WTO chief, the world needs to invest in three components to battle the pandemic - preparedness, response and resilience.

She also outlined several priorities that the upcoming G20 and G7 summits should concentrate upon. According to Okonjo-Iweala, the first priority is sharing since "we can still achieve a lot by sharing doses [of vaccines]." The next priority is manufacturing and it will be very important if the world has partnerships between private sectors and the government. Lifting restrictions on outputs and supply chains is also of major importance, the WTO director-general added.

16:17 GMT 17.05.2021

Spain plans to offer coronavirus shots to those aged under 50 starting June as it enters the final stretch of the vaccination campaign, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday.

"Once the vast majority of people aged 70 to 79 are fully vaccinated in May — that is they receive two doses — we will begin in June a mass vaccination of people under the age of 50," he said at the Iberoamerican Congress in Madrid.

Sanchez estimated that the country of 47 million was on track toward hitting the milestone of 7 million fully vaccinated people and reaching herd immunity within three months. Nearly 15 Spaniards have already received at least one dose.

15:53 GMT 17.05.2021

The whole world is currently witnessing a "vaccine apartheid," World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the Paris Peace Forum on Monday.

"The world is in 'vaccine apartheid'. As you know the high-income countries account for 15 percent of the world's population but have 45 percent of the world's vaccines and low and middle-income countries account for more than half of the population but have received just 17 percent of the world's vaccines," Tedros said.

He added that the donation of vaccines is urgently needed.

"And we have been asking countries to donate and, of course, some countries have already joined like New Zealand, France, Sweden, Denmark and the US. And we expect more countries to join," he added.

The COVID-19 death toll in the world topped 3.3 million, and over 163 million cases were detected, as of Monday, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University. The data also shows that 1.4 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.

15:16 GMT 17.05.2021

 World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the current health situation in Israel and Gaza "highly concerning" amid the recent escalation of their conflict.

"The health situation is also highly concerning and in the recent escalation of conflict, dozens of incidents involving health workers and health facilities have occurred. Furthermore, COVID-19 testing and vaccination has been severely impacted. This creates health risks for the world as a whole," Tedros said at a press briefing.

"It's essential that the norms of international humanitarian law be fully respected. In particular, health workers and infrastructure should always be protected, and I call for leaders on all sides to ensure respect for these vital humanitarian laws," the WHO director-general added.

15:09 GMT 17.05.2021

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which was scheduled for August 17-20 in Singapore, was cancelled due to the coronavirus situation, the WEF said on Monday.

"Regretfully, the tragic circumstances unfolding across geographies, an uncertain travel outlook, differing speeds of vaccination rollout and the uncertainty around new variants combine to make it impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale which was planned. This is despite the excellent support provided by the Government of Singapore," the statement says.

The next annual WEF meeting will be held in the first half of 2022, it said, adding that its date and location will be determined this summer.

Last year, it was planned that the annual meeting of the WEF, postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will not be held as usual in Davos, Switzerland, but in Lucerne in the resort of Buergenstock. However, later it was decided to move the WEF from Lucerne to Singapore.

14:31 GMT 17.05.2021

About 24,000 travellers arrived in Greece in the first two days after the resumption of tourism, Aristotelia Peloni, the Greek government's spokeswoman, said on Monday.

"The picture is positive. I have not received data for three days yet. We had around 24,000 arrivals in the first two days. Everything is going well so far, based on the control and conditions that we set – providing vaccination certificate, PCR-test result, selective control testing. We hope for a good and even better continuation," Peloni said during a briefing.

According to the official, Greece does its best to provide conditions for safe tourism, including establishing a network of quarantine hotels in 35 regions, introducing new tourism protocols and speeding up the vaccination campaign.

The spokeswoman also said that Greece does not forget that "the virus remains with us and hides," therefore it is necessary to follow recommendations on personal protection: wearing masks, keeping distance and avoiding mass gatherings.

The country resumed accepting travellers on May 14. Tourism contributes about 20% to Greece's GDP. In 2019, its revenue was 18.2 billion euros ($22.1 billion). However, in 2020 it dropped to 4.3 billion euros due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

14:29 GMT 17.05.2021

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to bring forward deliveries to global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX.

"We need doses right now and call on them [vaccine manufacturers] to bring forward deliveries as soon as possible," WHO's Tedros said at a press briefing.

"Moderna has signed a deal for 500 million doses with COVAX but the majority have been promised only for 2022. We need Moderna to bring hundreds of millions of these forward into 2021 due to the acute moment of this pandemic," Tedros added.

Tedros also expressed his hope that the Serum Institute of India would "catch up" on its delivery commitments to COVAX once the recent COVID-19 surge in India has passed.

13:49 GMT 17.05.2021
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11:53 GMT 17.05.2021
11:52 GMT 17.05.2021

"We're not at the point where we can make a definitive judgment," the spokesman told reporters. "We want to keep a close eye on the data, we want to get as much data in as possible before considering the next steps."

11:27 GMT 17.05.2021

A total of 31.8 percent of the EU population received at least one dose of a vaccine against the coronavirus, European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant announced on Monday.

On May 10, the European Commission said that 27.7 percent of the EU population had received at least one shot.

Spinant added that 237.5 million vaccine doses were delivered (up from 208.6 million a week ago), and 196.5 million vaccinations were carried out (up from 172.5 million).

11:07 GMT 17.05.2021

The Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories pharmaceutical company said on Monday that it had launched a pilot vaccination program with Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, which will be administered in the Apollo Hospitals across India.

"This initial quantity will be used across different channels as a pilot to line up our supply chain for the larger vaccination program rollout. Subsequent consignments will arrive in the next few weeks," Deepak Sapra, the global head of Customs Pharma Service of Dr. Reddy Laboratories, said in a statement.

On Sunday, India received the second batch of the Russian vaccine. The country is expected to start producing up to 850 million doses of Sputnik V per year.

Hyderabad was the first to start administering the Russian vaccine. The city of Visakhapatnam will join the pilot campaign on Tuesday. The Sputnik V vaccine will be supplied by Dr. Reddy’s from the first batch of 150,000 doses imported for the soft launch. After Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, the program will be extended to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune.

The first Sputnik V delivery arrived in Hyderabad on 1 May. India has also approved the use of its own vaccine Covaxin and the local version of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, Covishield.

10:20 GMT 17.05.2021
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09:31 GMT 17.05.2021
08:37 GMT 17.05.2021
08:36 GMT 17.05.2021

Russia registered 9,328 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, up from 8,554 the day before, which brought the cumulative total to 4,949,573, the federal response centre said on Monday.

"Over the past day, 9,328 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 83 Russian regions, including 1,556 cases (16.7 percent) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the rate of increase grew to 0.19 percent.

Moscow confirmed 3,573 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, up from 2,789 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 763 new cases, down from 767 the day before, and the Moscow Region with 701 cases, up from 672 the day before.

No new cases were recorded in the Nenets Autonomous Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

The response centre reported 340 new fatalities linked to the coronavirus, down from 391 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 116,211.

In the same 24 hours, 7,181 people were discharged from hospitals as recovered across the country, down from 8,573 the previous day, bringing the total to 4,563,254.

08:06 GMT 17.05.2021

Up to 83% of Japanese citizens support either cancelling or postponing Tokyo Olympic Games that is scheduled to take place this year from July-August, according to the survey by Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun.

According to the poll, only 14% of respondents support hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, while 43% are in favour of their cancellation and 40% - their postponement.

Around 73% of respondents presume that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his government will not be able to ensure the safety that they promised during the games. Among them, 53% support the Games’ cancellation, while 40% are in favour of their postponement. As for those who believe that ensuring safety during the event is possible, about 42% think that Japan should host the Games later.

The poll shows that the government's popularity rating fell to 33%, while the share of those who criticize its policy increased to 47%.

The newspaper conducted the nationwide survey from 15-16 May via a phone interview of 1,527 eligible voters.

08:01 GMT 17.05.2021

South Korea's SK bioscience has obtained the European Goof Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification which could open path for the export of COVID-19 vaccines to the EU.

"SK bioscience, which has become a global hub for COVID-19 vaccine production, has obtained an international certification recognizing its excellent vaccine production capabilities," the company said in a statement.

This is the first time that a South Korean vaccine production process has acquired EU-GMP status.

SK bioscience gained access to final certification for the production of AstraZeneca vaccines on March 29 and for Novavax vaccine candidate's manufacturing facilities on April 26.

The certification will allow South Korean factory made vaccines to enter the EU market and the country is currently planning to prepare for the current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) certification, which needs approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"With the pandemic, the global vaccine demand is expected to increase explosively, and SK bioscience is at the center of it ... Based on our globally recognized technologies, we will accelerate our business expansion," SK bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong said.

In July last year a CMO contract was signed by SK bioscience which allowed the company to manufacture the drug substance and the final product of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines. In August last year a CDMO contract was signed which allows SK bioscience to develop and produce Novavax's vaccine.

The GMP is a certification system which applies strict management standards to all steps of manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. EU-GMP is one of the world's leading certification systems alongside the cGMP from the US.

SK bioscience is currently in the process of reviewing more contracts and extensions, as well as developing the production schedule of its own COVID-19 vaccine.

07:31 GMT 17.05.2021

Taiwan plans to prohibit foreigners without local residency from entering the island for a month from Wednesday, as its daily local COVID-19 infections reached a new peak of 333 new cases on Monday.

"Because of the rising COVID-19 epidemic situation both domestically and internationally, to safeguard the domestic epidemiological situation and the health of our citizens, our nation will introduce the following border control restrictions from 19 May: entry of foreigners who do not hold valid resident permits will be suspended, with exceptions for emergency and humanitarian cases; the passengers’ flight transit through Taiwan will also be suspended," the Taiwan Center for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement.

The restrictions would last until June 18, the statement added.

During a press conference on Monday, Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said the island identified 333 new local COVID-19 cases and two imported cases in the past 24 hours.

As of Monday, Taiwan has reported 2017 COVID-19 cases, including 883 local cases, with 12 fatalities, according to data from the Taiwan CDC.

After being hailed as one of the most successful regions in containing local COVID-19 outbreaks, Taiwan saw a spike of new infections in recent days after daily new cases topped 100 for the first time on Saturday.

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