The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 6,396,073 people infected, including 191,753 fatalities and 2,403,511 recoveries.
India has confirmed 96,551 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, marking the largest daily increase since the beginning of the outbreak, with the total number of those infected having reached 4,465,863, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci in an interview said the United States will not return to normal for at least another year due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
"Well yes," Fauci told CNN on Friday when asked if it will take at least a year for life in the United States to return to normal.
Fauci said he is cautiously optimistic that a vaccine will be available at the end of the year, adding that it will be a gradual process to distribute the vaccine and get a mass population immune to the disease.
The United States has reported more than 6.4 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 192,790 deaths caused by the disease as of Friday evening, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has decided to extend the country’s coronavirus-related state of catastrophe for 90 days, the presidential office said.
The state of catastrophe over the COVID-19 pandemic was declared by Chile on 18 March. Earlier this month, the country prolonged it until 25 September.
“The presidential office says that it was decided to prolong the state of catastrophe over the national disaster in Chile for 90 days,” the office said in a statement on late Friday.
The government may cancel the state of catastrophe in case of the improvement of the epidemiological situation.
Chiles has confirmed more than 430,000 coronavirus cases so far, with over 11,800 fatalities.
Japan is set to cooperate with an independent panel appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to review the global COVID-19 response, the NHK broadcaster reported on Friday, citing Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
The WHO's review committee was launched on Tuesday to assess the performance of its International Health Regulations (IHR) during the global coronavirus pandemic and recommend any changes it believes are necessary. It also reviews the role and functioning of international IHR focal points and examines the progress made in implementing the recommendations of previous review committees.
According to the media outlet, Suga told reporters that Japan was going to assist the WHO panel in reviewing responses by the organization and the Chinese government.
Austrian authorities will tighten measures throughout the country to combat the spread of coronavirus due to the continuing increase in the number of new infection cases starting from September 14, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday.
According to Kurz, the situation is again becoming serious with the number of new COVID-19 patients growing every day. Over the past day, 580 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the country with about 50 percent registered in Vienna.
"The measures will take effect starting from 00:00 a.m. on Monday [22:00 GMT on Sunday] all across Austria," Kurz said at a press conference.
The regime of wearing masks will also be tightened. Now it will be obligatory to cover nose and mouth again in almost all public places, while previously the requirement was applied only on transport, in supermarkets, banks and post offices.
The toughening of measures will also affect affect public events and mass gatherings.
Russia has registered 5,504 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours (5,363 yesterday), which brings the cumulative total to 1,051,874, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Friday.
"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 5,504 COVID-19 cases in 85 regions, of which 1,240 (22.5 percent) have been detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the response centre said in a statement, adding that the total count has reached 1,051,874.
Moscow recorded 698 cases, St. Petersburg registered 216 cases, and the Moscow region confirmed 175 new cases.
In the past 24 hours, Russia recorded 102 COVID-19 fatalities, bringing the death toll to 18,365, and 5,734 recoveries, taking the total to 868,107.
According to the public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, over 39.9 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the pandemic, and 209,000 suspected carriers remain under medical monitoring.
India has confirmed 96,551 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase since the beginning of the outbreak, with the total number of those infected having reached 4,562,414, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday.
The death toll from the disease has reached 76,271 people, with 1,209 new fatalities being recorded over the past day. More than 3.54 million people have recovered in India since the start of the epidemic.
India comes second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States with more than 6.39 million COVID-19 patients.
A day earlier, India registered 95,735 new coronavirus cases and 1,172 fatalities.
Germany has confirmed 1,484 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, with the total count reaching 256,850, the Robert Koch Institute said on Friday.
The death toll has grown by one to 9,342 people within the same period of time. More than 230,000 people have recovered since the start of the outbreak.
A day earlier, the country confirmed 1,892 new coronavirus cases and three fatalities.
