At the moment, the United States remains the worst-hit country with over 5 million confirmed cases and at least 163,000 deceased, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil occupies second place with around 3 million infected and a death toll of 101,000, while India, which confirmed the highest daily increases over the last week, has around 2.2 million infected and over 44,000 dead from the virus.
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide has surpassed 20.2 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
It said the global case tally stood at 20,207,011 at 02:25 GMT Wednesday, with 739,898 deaths and 12,460,381 recoveries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March.
According to the WHO, the global coronavirus death toll has surpassed 732,000 people, with the number of cases worldwide exceeding 19.9 million.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Brazil's number of cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has increased by more than 52,000 over the past 24 hours - up from some 22,000 the day before, with over 1,200 deaths, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.
The case tally rose by 52,160 to 3,109,630, the ministry said.
The death toll increased by 1,274 - up from 703 the day before - to 103,026.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of recoveries in Brazil stands at 2,396,860.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March.
According to the WHO, the global coronavirus death toll has surpassed 732,000 people, with the number of cases worldwide exceeding 19.9 million.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump told reporters that his administration has made an agreement with the pharmaceutical company Moderna to deliver 100 million doses of their novel coronavirus vaccine once it becomes available.
"This evening, I'm pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Moderna to manufacture and deliver one hundred million doses of their coronavirus vaccine candidate," Trump said on Tuesday evening.
Moderna said in a company statement that the US government awarded the company $1.5 billion for 100 million doses of its vaccine once it is ready. The vaccine is currently going through a clinical trials phase, which began on 27 July.
Moderna also said the US government will have the option to purchase an additional 400 million doses of the vaccine if needed.
The Trump administration has said a novel coronavirus vaccine is expected to be available by early 2021.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – New York has added two new states and a US territory to a list of jurisdictions from which arriving travelers are required to quarantine for 14 days in an attempt to contain the pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press release on Tuesday.
Four states were removed from the list that now includes 31 US states and territories, the release said.
"New York went from one of the worst situations in the country, to an example for the rest of the nation to follow," Cuomo said. "We cannot go back to the hell we experienced a few months ago, which is why we are adding Hawaii, South Dakota and Virgin Islands to the travel advisory."
The states of Alaska, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington were removed from the list, Cuomo added.
On Tuesday, New York state had 540 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 120 of whom were in intensive care with six deaths reported, the release said.
"The point is not to be first with the vaccine, the point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the American people and the people of the world", Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told ABC News.
"If we are sure that this is a reliable product, we will try to enter into negotiations", Yuli Edelstein, the country's health minister said during his visit to a plant producing protective masks in Sderot, when asked to comment on the issue.
"The Ministry noticed that the number of infection cases has spiked in the Philippines, resulting in the country having the most infection cases among ASEAN member states", Health Minister Mam Bun Heng said, as cited by the Khmer Times newspaper.
On 1 August, Cambodia banned air services with Malaysia and Indonesia after more than 10 passengers arriving from those nations tested positive for the coronavirus.
Cambodia has recorded 266 COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic, with no deaths and 220 recoveries.
"I think we got three or so [candidates] in phase III, which is the final phase - the testing phase. It doesn’t seem based on these reports out of Russia that they are in that type of phase where you are actually doing the clinical trials, the human trials", White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said when asked about Russia’s vaccine.
Conway pointed out that the US coronavirus vaccine candidates are approved in conjunction with much more stringent standards, echoing the views by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci who expressed hope earlier that vaccines developed by Russia, China and other nations will meet the same rigorous testing requirements US manufacturers face.
Conway added that US President Donald Trump will be briefed on the US vaccine development throughout the day and will likely give a public update later on Tuesday.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - The testing of four Israeli rapid coronavirus diagnostic tools in India is expected to be completed in a matter of weeks and pave the way for tests that can detect COVID-19 in less than a minute, Deputy Chief of Israel’s Mission to India Rony Yedidia-Clein told Sputnik in an interview.
"Until we find the vaccine it is just as important to find rapid testing methods and we are working on that and we hope it will be a matter of weeks until we have the new tests that can quickly find COVID-19", Yedidia-Clein said. "We brought equipment and we brought scientists. Israeli scientists are working together with Indian scientists in order to test the new innovation [of] four different kinds".
The four tools include, as elaborated by the diplomat, a test that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse a person's voice waves in order to detect changes in the respiratory system, an AI-equipped test that uses terahertz waves to analyse the breath, an isothermal test to detect the virus in heated saliva, and a polyamic acids test to detect the virus protein in saliva.
Earlier this month, Israel brought its four pilot diagnostic tools to test them in India due to its own population being too small to ensure a sufficient number of virus-positive test subjects. India is currently the world's third most affected country, with more than 2.2 million cases and over 44,000 deaths.
"We are in close contact with Russian health authorities and discussions are ongoing with respect to possible WHO prequalification of the vaccine, but again prequalification of any vaccine includes the rigorous review and assessment of all required safety and efficacy data," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a U.N. briefing in Geneva, referring to clinical trials.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered to re-impose a coronavirus lockdown in the country's largest city, as a new outbreak of COVID-19 has been confirmed.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Binnopharm’s factory in the Russian town of Zelenograd can produce about 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per year and several batches are ready for shipment to the regions, the AFK Sistema conglomerate said Tuesday.
"Binnopharm factory has a capacity to produce 1.5 million vaccine units per year. The first batches of the vaccine are ready for shipment to the Russian regions", investment company AFK Sistema President Vladimir Chirakhov said, as quoted in the company's press release.
Sistema's shares jumped by almost 6 percent on the news of the vaccine, Moscow stock exchange data showed.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Health Ministry registered the first coronavirus vaccine in the world. It was developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry. According to Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, the vaccine will be produced by the Gamaleya centre and Sistema's Binnopharm.
LONDON (Sputnik) – Around 730,000 people have lost their jobs in the United Kingdom since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March, the largest quarterly employment decrease since the 2009 financial crisis, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed on Tuesday.
"Early indicators for July 2020 suggest that the number of employees in the UK on payrolls is down around 730,000 compared with March 2020", the ONS said in a report.
According to the official data, the falls in May, June, and July are mainly because fewer people have moved into payroll employment, and the unemployment rate remains at 3.9 percent as around 2.7 million people are still on a government-backed furlough scheme.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has registered 4,945 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours (5,118 yesterday), bringing the cumulative total to 897,599, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Tuesday.
"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 4,945 COVID-19 cases in 84 regions, of which 1,403 (28.4 percent) have been detected with people showing no clinical symptoms", the response centre said in a statement.
This takes the total case count to 897,599, with the daily increase standing at 0.6 percent.
Moscow registered 694 coronavirus cases during the same time period, which is more than any other region in Russia, followed by the Sverdlovsk Region with 168 cases and St. Petersburg with 157 cases (compared to 694, 179, and 157 yesterday).
According to the newly-released data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 730,000 people have lost their jobs since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.
"We always knew that sadly this disease would not only have a health cost but would have an economic cost and I think we are seeing the consequences of part of that," junior health minister Edward Argar told Sky News on Tuesday, when asked about fresh data which showed the biggest drop in employment in the UK since 2009.
There were 114,000 fewer employees on payroll in July than in June and 730,000 fewer than in March 2020, around the time when lockdown started https://t.co/6bC1D2TW9g pic.twitter.com/FzuyiqnuLc
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) August 11, 2020
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Brazil has increased by more than 22,000 over the past 24 hours, with over 700 deaths, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.
The case tally rose by 22,048 to 3,057,470, the ministry said. The death toll increased by 703 to 101,752. More than 2.1 million people have recovered, according to official data.
