The United States, India, and Brazil are the worst-hit countries in the world in terms of the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases.
The US also has the highest COVID-19 death toll. America's case count currently stands at 7,420,921, including 209,810 fatalities and 2,911,699 recoveries, while the number of COVID-19 fatalities in India has surpassed 101,000.
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement that it has approved a six-month debt relief extension for 28 low-income countries.
"The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on October 2, 2020 a second six-month tranche of debt service relief for 28 member countries under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT)," the release said on Monday.
The release said the debt relief will help these countries free up limited financial resources for crucial emergency medical needs and other relief efforts.
The CCRT needs about $1.4 billion to provide debt relief services for a maximum of two years but has only received one-third of the amount from several donor countries.
The Irish Prime Minister said on Monday that the country would move to third-level coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, adding that "there will be a serious impact" if the recent resurgence in virus infection rates is not addressed.
"If we act now, we can stop the need to go further - I have no doubt that we can, and will, get through this," Martin said.
"It is important to understand we are in a very different situation to last March," the prime minister said. "Businesses are beginning to recover and vital public health services are still backlogged. Severe restrictions now would have a very damaging impact which those services and those businesses may not be able to recover from."
Taoiseach Micheál Martin says if recent Covid-19 trends are not altered "there will be a serious impact" | https://t.co/nPM6fe3aXF pic.twitter.com/mh7hznvcWJ
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 5, 2020
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow has registered 31 death of patients infected with COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the Russian capital's death toll to 5,401, the city's coronavirus response center said in a statement on Monday.
"Another 31 patient, who were diagnosed with pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus infection, died in Moscow," the center said.
In the previous day, 27 people infected with the coronavirus died in Moscow.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The number of deaths in the United States due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has exceeded 210,000 as of Monday afternoon, the Johns Hopkins University revealed in its latest data.
Al least 210,013 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the university's tally. The data also shows the United States has reported more than 7.4 million cases of COVID-19.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Monday that he tested negative for the novel coronavirus after developing a "raspy voice" in September.
"Earlier in September, I had a bit of a throat tickle, a bit of a raspy throat, so I checked with my doctor and he recommended I get tested. I got tested, it was negative, and I went back to work a few days later when the doctor told me I was cleared to do it" Trudeau said.
The test was not reported at the time and this marks the first time the Prime Minister has publicly acknowledged being tested for the novel coronavirus.
Trudeau said that in accordance with public health advice at the time, he was not tested after his spouse Sophie Gregoire tested positive for the virus in March.
A number of heads of state and government have contracted the novel coronavirus, including Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and, most recently, US President Donald Trump.
The coronavirus pandemic will cost the Moscow's budget about 800 billion rubles ($10.2 billion) this year, the city's deputy mayor for economic policy, Vladimir Efimov, said in an interview with Sputnik.
"If we also compare with the fact that we planned an 8-percent increase in revenues compared to last year, then the total budget losses will exceed 500 billion rubles. At the same time, we incurred about 300 billion rubles of additional expenses that were not provided for in the original budget and were associated with the re-equipment of hospitals for COVID ... That is, it will cost the budget about 800 billion [rubles] at the end of the year, provided that we remain in the current situation," Efimov said.
Moscow's economy will fully recover and return to its previous dynamics by end-2021 or mid-2022, Efimov said.
More than 700 people died from the coronavirus in retirement homes of the Argentinian capital, Paula Zingoni, the head of the Buenos Aires Health Ministry's department of operational planning, said on Monday.
"We have conducted 19,377 tests in the retirement homes. As a result, 4,871 cases were confirmed, 3,722 people recovered and 724 people died," Zingoni told journalists.
Health authorities in Buenos Aires have so far confirmed 129,664 cases, including 104,384 recoveries and 3,801 deaths.
The recently identified error in the United Kingdom's COVID-19 data collection has lead to at least 47,000 potential patients being missed by contact tracers, The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday.
The Public Health England on Sunday admitted that 15,841 coronavirus cases detected between September 25 and October 2 were not featured in the UK daily case figures because of an IT error that was discovered on Friday.
According to the news outlet, the UK's latest available test and trace statistics postulate that each non-complex COVID-19 case has reported three contacts on average, meaning that approximately 47,000 or more potential cases have not been found and therefore those affected were not instructed to self-isolate.
In the wake of the discovered blunder, the head of the UK National Health Service's COVID-19 Test and Trace program, Diana Mary Harding, is facing calls to resign.
India's COVID-19 mortality rate currently sits at less than 1.5 percent and the country has some of the world's lowest cases per million and deaths per million figures, Rajesh Bhushan, the secretary at the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said on Monday.
"We have prioritized both lives and livelihoods. India is maintaining a recovery rate close to 84 percent with a fatality rate of less than 1.5 percent. Further, India has one of the lowest cases and deaths per million of population," Bhushan said at the World Health Organization's (WHO) Executive Board Special Session on COVID-19.
The health secretary said that India has ensured equitable access to treatments and diagnostics for COVID-19 at the national level, adding that the WHO should ensure that these same processes are enforced globally.
"WHO must also put in place a robust mechanism to ensure fair, affordable and equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics," Bhushan remarked.
India has confirmed the second-most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any country in the world. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 6.6 million cases of the disease have been registered, resulting in the deaths of 102,685 people.
The administration of the French capital of Paris has reintroduced some of the health measures, including a requirement for all bars and concert venues to close, as the city is witnessing a steady increase in daily numbers of COVID-19 infections, Paris police prefect Didier Lallement announced on Monday.
Paris and its surrounding suburbs have been put on maximum alert as new cases have surged in the country since mid-summer, following a two-month national lockdown that stretched into May.
"Starting tomorrow, all bars will be closed," Lallement said at a press conference on Monday, adding that certain restaurants will still remain open under a new health protocol.
In addition, the authorities also banned festive and family gatherings in public places as well as mass events held under a tent.
Gyms and swimming pools – except for those used by minors — will be closed, according to the announcement. Fairs and exhibition centers have also been ordered to close.
City authorities have banned mass gatherings and events of more than 1,000 persons.
Shopping centers and universities will work under 50 percent of their capacity, Lallement said.
The preventive measures will remain in effect at least until October 19.
The most recent highest single-day count of COVID-19 cases was recorded on Saturday, with 16, 972 new infections confirmed. To date, France has registered 658,800 coronavirus cases with a death toll at 32,246.
Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V is expected to be released into civil circulation late this month or in early November, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Monday.
"According to our plans, the release into civil circulation will start either in the last days of October or in the beginning of November," Murashko told reporters.
There is a high demand for the vaccine both inside Russia and abroad, the minister noted.
The Turkish Formula One Grand Prix race will be closed to spectators amid fears of the coronavirus pandemic, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday, citing the Istanbul authorities.
According to the media outlet, the decision was announced after the city's sanitation committee approved the pandemic board's recommendation.
The F1 race is expected to take place on 14 November at the Istanbul Park in the city's Tuzla district for the first time since 2011.
Around 10 percent of the global population may have been infected with the coronavirus, and the vast majority of the people are still at risk, World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan said on Monday.
"Our current best estimates tell us that about 10 percent of the global population may have been infected by this virus, this varies depending on country, this varies from urban to rural, it varies between different groups, but what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk. We know the pandemic will continue to evolve, but we also know we have the tools to work to suppress transmission and save lives right now, and they are at our disposal. The future depends on the choices that we collectively make," Ryan said at the WHO Executive Board Special Session.
Russia is working on a COVID-19 medication for patients with severe cases of the disease, which will be based on blood plasma of those who have already recovered, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Monday.
"Today, we are working on a medication based on plasma of donors who have already recovered," Murashko told reporters, specifying that this will be a drug for severe patients.
The Kremlin is unaware of Moscow's possible plans to toughen coronavirus-related restrictions and announce a new non-working period in light of a surge in new infections, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
"It is not the Kremlin but the governmental response center who should discuss this, as it is the main agency," Peskov told reporters, when asked if the Kremlin was discussing a return to self-isolation.
The Kremlin spokesman noted he "had not heard of any talks on the matter."
Russia's COVID-19 response center told Sputnik on Monday it had no plans to close borders or introduce any further air travel limitations in light of a spike in coronavirus cases.
"The response center does not plan to make decisions on closing borders and restricting the air travel," the centre said.
Russia has registered 10,888 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, up from 10,499 yesterday, taking the cumulative case total to 1,225,889, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Monday.
"In the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 10,888 COVID-19 cases in 84 regions, of which 2,861 (26.3 percent) were detected with people showing no clinical symptoms”, the response centre said in a statement, specifying that the total count has reached 1,225,889.
The largest increase was identified in Moscow, where 3,537 new positive tests were registered (up from 3,327 yesterday). A total of 407 new cases were recorded in St. Petersburg (up from 392 yesterday) and 339 cases were confirmed in the Moscow Region (up from 296 yesterday). No new cases were recorded in the Nenets Autonomous Region.
The response centre reported 117 new coronavirus-related fatalities, up from 107 yesterday, raising Russia's total death toll to 21,475.
As many as 3,181 coronavirus patients were confirmed to have recovered over the last day, down from 3,284 yesterday, bringing the total number of discharges to 982,324.
According to the national public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, over 48 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the pandemic, and 230,120 suspected carriers remain under medical observation.
I’ve been informed that I participated in a meeting last Tuesday attended by a person who yesterday tested positive for COVID-19. In accordance with regulations in force, I’m therefore self-isolating until tomorrow morning. I’ve tested negative on Thursday & am tested again today
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) October 5, 2020
New Zealand is easing coronavirus restrictions in Auckland down to the lowest level amid an improving epidemiological situation, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
During a Monday press conference broadcast on Facebook, Ardern said New Zealand "beat the virus again" and announced that restrictions in Auckland, which had seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, would be eased this week as there have been no new cases in the city for 12 days.
Ardern said that Auckland would join the rest of New Zealand on level one of restrictions starting from 23:59 on Wednesday, 7 October (10:59 GMT).
At the end of September, Ardern announced an extension of coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand with a gradual easing planned for Auckland.
New Zealand eased coronavirus restrictions from alert level 2 to level 1 on 21 September. Auckland remained at level 2.5, but moved to level 2 later in September.
New Zealand’s Health Ministry said on Monday that only one new case of COVID-19 had been registered in the past 24 hours. A total of 40 active cases of the coronavirus were reported.
