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A man wearing a face mask walks in front of the Roemer townhall, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Frankfurt, Germany, October 12, 2020. - Sputnik International

COVID-19 Live Updates: Germany Registers 4,122 New Infections - Institute

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The global COVID-19 case count stands at over 37.7 million, and more than 1 million have died, according to Baltimore, Maryland's Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from national and local authorities, the media and other sources.

India is quickly catching up with the United States in terms of overall COVID-19 cases, as it continues to see the largest daily rise in infections. The case tally in the country has reached 7.1 million.

The United States has updated its tally to over 7.8 million cases, the largest in the world.

In Brazil, the third worst-hit country, the COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 150,000. In total, the country has confirmed over 5 million cases.

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03:13 GMT 13.10.2020

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Panama's Civil Aviation Authority announced the resumption of international flights, which had been interrupted in March 2020.

"Seven months later, and as a result of outstanding team efforts, we are returning to our skies today to connect with the world with all biosecurity measures to protect our passengers", the ministry said on Twitter.

Among the rules for inbound passengers is the presence of a coronavirus PCR test result or an antibody test performed no earlier than 96 hours before boarding the flight, as well as a written agreement with the airlines' rules for compliance with sanitary control measures and protocols of the country's Health Ministry (the airline will provide the passenger with a document for signature).

Arrivals will need to use the MINSA mobile application of the Health Ministry to monitor possible symptoms and confirm quarantine, as well as provide a landline phone number at the place of quarantine.

02:40 GMT 13.10.2020
02:02 GMT 13.10.2020

BUENOS AIRES(Sputnik) - The number of cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Argentina has risen by 9,524 over the past day to 903,730, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.

Overall, 24,186 people have died from COVID-19 in the country, with 318 patients having passed away in the past 24 hours.

On the national level, intensive care units are 64.3 percent occupied with patients.

 The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March.

According to the WHO, the global coronavirus death toll has surpassed 1,074,000 people, with the number of cases worldwide exceeding 37.4 million.

01:52 GMT 13.10.2020

"Restrictions on air operations in the country are extended for 30 days, from 12 October to 12 November", the ministry said in its Twitter microblog.

01:09 GMT 13.10.2020

KIEV (Sputnik) - Ukraine's cabinet intends on Tuesday to tighten lockdown restrictions in the country due to the worsening epidemiological situation and an increase in coronavirus (COVID-19) incidence, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said 265,454 cases of COVID-19 had been recorded in the country, with 5,015 deaths and 114,410 recoveries.

"Tomorrow (Tuesday) at a government meeting, we will propose tougher restrictions in our country", Stepanov said during the Freedom of Speech TV show on ICTV.

According to him, among other things, the authorities intend to limit the maximum number of people who can participate in mass events. At the same time, Stepanov said there were no plans to introduce an absolute quarantine in the country.

00:34 GMT 13.10.2020
00:00 GMT 13.10.2020

PRAGUE(Sputnik) - The Czech government is tightening measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from 14 October and will ban gathering in groups of more than 6 people, Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

According to the country's Health Ministry, over the past 14 days, the Czech Republic has taken second place in the world (after Andorra) in terms of the rate of growth of the number of new patients as per 100,000 people. On Friday, a record figure for the number of cases per day was registered - 8,618 people, on Saturday and Sunday the figures were more modest, but much fewer tests are being done these days.

Overall, 61,522 people are currently sick in the republic, with 2,146 of them hospitalized. On Monday, the number of deaths surpassed 1,000 people, reaching 1,045 cases, about 600 of them died in September-October. The country imposed an emergency situation regime on 5 October.

"The situation in the republic is tense, the number of new patients with COVID-19 is growing at a tremendous pace. In response to this, the government decided to expand and tighten from Wednesday measures against the expansion of the pandemic, in particular, no more than 6 people will be able to gather together", Babis said.

21:22 GMT 12.10.2020

MOSCOW(Sputnik) - Moscow's death toll from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has risen by 58 people over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of related deaths in the Russian capital to 5,687, the city's coronavirus response centre said in a statement.

"A total of 58 patients, who were diagnosed with pneumonia and tested positive for coronavirus infection, have died in Moscow", the centre said.

A day before, 34 people died from COVID-19 in the city. 

21:04 GMT 12.10.2020
19:41 GMT 12.10.2020
18:48 GMT 12.10.2020

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to form an interdepartmental commission of the Russian Security Council on the creation of a system of protection against new infections, according to a decree published on the legal information portal.

"I order to form an Interdepartmental Commission of the Russian Security Council on the creation of a national system of protection against new infections," the decree says.

18:44 GMT 12.10.2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that a vaccine against the coronavirus disease will be ready for registration by the end of 2020 or early next year at the earliest, Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO chief scientist, said on Monday.

"As you know, we have about 40 vaccine candidates now in some stage of clinical trials, and 10 of them are in the phase three trials, which are the late-stage clinical trials, which will tell us about both the efficacy and the safety. So, the best we could make a guess or predict, looking at when a trial started and when it is likely to have enough data to submit to the regulators, is [at] earliest from December of 2020 into the early part of 2021," Swaminathan told reporters.

Countries have been developing dozens of vaccines since the start of the outbreak earlier this year, but none have passed the WHO-approved phase 3 trials so far. Many vaccines are expected to be registered with the WHO by the end of the year.

To date, more than 37 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 1.07 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

18:17 GMT 12.10.2020

Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist, said during a virtual briefing on Monday that a total of more than 180 countries had already joined the WHO-led COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX), which ensures equal access to vaccines worldwide.

"October 9 was another deadline for countries to make commitments and over the weekend we have over 180 countries that have committed [to COVAX initiative]. These include the self-financing countries and the latest one to join and make a public announcement was China," Swaminathan said.

Last week, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that China was joining the initiative, along with South Korea and the Pacific island nation of Nauru.

COVAX is co-led by the UN health agency, Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. It is part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator under the WHO auspices to bring together vaccine developers from different countries with the common goal of producing a safe COVID-19 vaccine.

17:36 GMT 12.10.2020

Nearly 28,000 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Spain since Friday, bringing the total number to 888,968, the health ministry said. 

The death toll increased by 195 from Friday to a total of 33,124, the ministry added. 

17:31 GMT 12.10.2020
17:12 GMT 12.10.2020

If successful, the potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford will be manufactured and distributed in Thailand and Southeast Asia, the UK government announced on Monday.

According to the statement, the Thai Ministry of public health and the Thailand-based companies Siam Bioscience and SCG signed an agreement in Bangkok with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, which is working with Oxford University to make the vaccine globally available.

"Defeating COVID-19 is - and needs to be - a global endeavour. The work of scientists, multilaterals and business as well as governments. It is a pleasure to witness the start of this critical partnership between Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, Siam BioScience, SCG and AstraZeneca," the statement quotes UK ambassador to Thailand, Brian Davison, as saying.

The announcement did not give details about the financial terms of the deal, or how many doses would be distributed in Thailand, but claimed that "large scale manufacturing at Siam Bioscience will strengthen broad, equitable and timely access to the potential vaccine in Southeast Asia and beyond."

The vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with the Oxford University's Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group is in phase 3 trials, which is the final stage before safety and efficacy data can be submitted to health regulators for approval.

More than 50,000 people worldwide have been taking part in the clinical studies to see whether the candidate vaccine, known as AZD1222, can develop an immune response to COVID-19.

16:27 GMT 12.10.2020
15:46 GMT 12.10.2020

COVID-19 cases have been increasing around the world, each of the last four days saw the highest number of new cases yet, Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday.

According to WHO statistics, a cumulative total of 37.4 million cases have been reported to the organization, as of Monday. There have been 307,403 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.

"We're now seeing increase in the number of reported cases of COVID-19, especially in Europe and the Americas, Each of the last four days has been the highest number of cases reported so far," Tedros told a press conference.

According to the WHO chief, some cities have been reporting increase in hospitalizations as well.

At the same time, "for every country that is experiencing an increase there are many others that have successfully prevented or controlled widespread transmission with proven measures," Tedros said.

The WHO chief urged caution on the idea of herd immunity, pointing out that it referred to the protective barrier achieved through vaccination of a certain percentage of population rather than exposing them to the disease.

"Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to outbreak, let alone a pandemic. It's scientifically and ethically problematic," Tedros said.

The WHO chief remarked that scientists did not know enough about the strength, duration or other particularities of the COVID-19 immune response.

15:34 GMT 12.10.2020

A new full lockdown over the coronavirus is not the right course for the United Kingdom, despite steep increase in the number of new cases, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday.

"The number of cases has quadrupled in the last three weeks. There are now more people in hospital with COVID than when we went into lockdown on March 23 and deaths are already rising," the prime minister told the parliament.

Johnson acknowledged that there were demands for a new national lockdown "of indefinite duration."

"I do not believe that would be the right course. We would not only be depriving our children of their education, we would do such damage to our economy, as to erode our long-term ability to fund the NHS and other crucial public services," the prime minister said.

15:33 GMT 12.10.2020

A new three-tiered COVID-19 local lockdown system has been unveiled by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday, which will see stricter social distancing measures applied in English towns and cities that have a high rate of new infections.

The United Kingdom has seen a rapid surge in new coronavirus disease cases over recent weeks, and the prime minister said that it was necessary to standardize local measures, following the government's implementation of the so-called rule of six, which limits social gatherings to no more than six people, at the national level.

"Just as we've simplified our national rules with the rule of six, we will now simplify and standardize our local rules by introducing a three-tiered system of local COVID alert levels in England, set at medium, high, and very high," the prime minister said.

According to Johnson, the majority of English towns and cities will be placed under the medium alert level, which has the current national advice as the baseline.

"The medium alert level will cover most of the country and will consist of the current national measures, this includes the rule of six and the closure of hospitality at 22:00 [21:00 GMT]," the prime minister said.

The high alert level will be enforced in the majority of areas that are currently under local level restrictions, which includes Nottinghamshire, East and West Cheshire, and areas of High Peak, the prime minister said.

"The high alert reflects the interventions in many local areas at the moment. This primarily aims to reduce household-to-household transmission by preventing all mixing between different households or support bubbles indoors. In these areas, the rule of six will continue to apply outdoors where it is harder for the virus to spread, in public spaces as well as private gardens," Johnson remarked.

The very high level will apply to areas where there is a rapid rate of new infections, such as the Merseyside area that encompasses the city of Liverpool, the prime minister added.

"The very high alert level will apply where transmission rates are rising most rapidly and where the NHS could soon be under unbearable pressure without further restrictions. In these areas, the government will set a baseline of prohibiting social mixing indoors and in private gardens, and I'm sorry to say, closing pubs and bars," Johnson said.

Merseyside will enter the very high alert level on Wednesday, the prime minister stated, adding that government officials had consulted with the local authorities to agree that gyms, leisure centers, betting shops, adult gaming centers, and casinos will also close from this date.

The UK is currently battling its second wave of the coronavirus disease pandemic, and 12,872 new positive tests were registered by the Department of Health and Social Care on Sunday. On this date, the country's case total stood in excess of 603,700 and the death toll stood at 42,825. 

14:19 GMT 12.10.2020

China will continue its efforts to ensure equal access to vaccines after joining the World Health Organization-led COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility), the Foreign Ministry said.

The country officially signed up to the international initiative on October 8.

"We have joined the COVAX Facility to ensure fair distribution of vaccines, especially in developing countries, and we hope that more countries that have the appropriate capacity will support and join COVAX," the ministry's spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said.

According to the ministry, the decision to join COVAX is "an important step that China took as part of its promise to make the COVID-19 vaccine a public good for the world."

"The COVID-19 pandemic still poses a serious threat to the safety and health of people around the world, and China remains focused on ensuring that developing countries have equal access to safe and effective vaccines," the diplomat added.

COVAX is co-led by the WHO, Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The main goal is to accelerate the development of coronavirus vaccines and guarantee equitable access for countries across the world.

14:18 GMT 12.10.2020

Argentina has prolonged measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic for a further two weeks, the presidential administration said.

"The Government extended the maintenance of social distance and mandatory isolation till October 25 due to epidemiological emergency amid the coronavirus pandemic," the administration said.

Outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed, provided they respect social distancing and wear masks. Mass cultural and religious events as well as indoor meetings are still restricted.

Face-to-face classes and activities may be resumed in accordance with guidelines of the Federal Council of Education, the authorities said.

Cinemas, theaters and cultural centers remain closed together with all types of intercity and international transport, except for special authorized cases.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Argentina registered more than 894,000 COVID-19 patients, 721,380 of whom have recovered while 23,868 died.

13:05 GMT 12.10.2020

South Korea eased restrictions on outdoor rallies under 100 people, as new COVID-19 cases have decreased massively over the past few weeks, the media reported on Monday. 

The average number of local infections fell to less than 60 on a daily basis over the past two weeks.

According to the Yonhap news agency, rallies in downtown areas will still be banned. Despite the lowered national guidelines, people will still have to wear masks, keep a social distance and follow other virus-containment rules.

Under the new guidelines, people will also be allowed to attend sports events in the stadiums and open places now. Churches and sports venues can only fill up 30 percent of their seats. Businesses with a high risk of infection transmissions like nightclubs, restaurants and karaoke bars are also expected to reopen, as long as the preventive measures are observed.

In order to contain the spread of the virus during the Chuseok holiday on 30 September - 2 October and the celebration of the proclamation of the Korean alphabet on October 9, the government discouraged travel and banned indoor gatherings with more than 50 people for a period of two weeks.

The total amount of coronavirus cases released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency is 24,703, including 433 deaths. The majority of cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.  The total number of full recoveries stands at 22,729, or more than 92 percent.

12:39 GMT 12.10.2020
12:10 GMT 12.10.2020
11:19 GMT 12.10.2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) has not observed an increase in COVID-19 cases in densely populated Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh recently, but continues to take rigorous control and prevention measures, Catalin Bercaru, a communication officer for the WHO country office in Bangladesh, told Sputnik.

Bangladesh, the world's most densely populated country, also hosts the world's largest refugee camp near Cox's Bazar. As of October 4, a total of 273 cases have been confirmed among Rohingya refugees living in the camps.

"Regarding the evolution of COVID-19 in Rohingya camps, we have not seen a recent surge in cases," Bercaru said in an email.

According to the spokesman, WHO and health workers in Cox's Bazar were working tirelessly on prevention measures, strengthening health care capacities, promoting awareness about the need to wear mask and exercise hand hygiene and physical distancing. He noted that more than 2,000 volunteers are working with refugees across 34 camps, and 87 information service centers have been established in the area to receive feedback and complaints.

"As older persons are among the most vulnerable to severe forms of COVID-19 a multi-sector mitigation intervention is being delivered, with the objective of reducing infection as much as possible within this group. The goal is to support them to minimize their movement, respect physical distancing and thereby limit their exposure to the virus, and to keep their shelters as safe, clean and comfortable as possible. In this regard, extra support has been delivered to households with older persons in form of regular food, liquefied petroleum gas, as well as the Non-Food Items kit," Bercaru said.

More than 860,000 Rohingya refugees are currently living in camps in Cox’s Bazar after being forced to flee their homes in neighboring Myanmar amid an army offensive in August 2017. The Myanmar authorities launched an unprecedented violence campaign against this Muslim minority after militants, allegedly from this minority group, carried out attacks on police posts in the country's north-western state of Rakhine.

10:35 GMT 12.10.2020
10:20 GMT 12.10.2020

"We now have more patients in hospital with COVID-19 than we did when the government announced restrictions on March 23," Stephen Powis, the National Medical Director of NHS England, told a media conference.

09:42 GMT 12.10.2020

The Russian authorities can act flexibly and avoid coronavirus-related lockdowns due to the reduction in the coronavirus mortality rate thanks to efficient treatment, and great bed capacity, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"The bed capacity makes it possible to receive more infected people, it enables more efficient and quick treatment. All this enables us to be more flexible, largely take into consideration interests of the national economy and avoid such tough measures as a total lockdown," Peskov told reporters.

The government prioritizes citizens' life and health, the Kremlin spokesman assured, praising the country's "safety buffer" and efficient treatment guidelines.

"The system manifests its efficiency. Yes, the number of infected people is growing, but the system remains operational. We just need to boost citizens' consciousness, they need to implement more efficient measures, take the steps that only they can take to minimize the risk of becoming infected," Peskov went on to say.

09:11 GMT 12.10.2020
08:44 GMT 12.10.2020
07:34 GMT 12.10.2020

 Russia has registered 13,592 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from the record-high 13,634 yesterday, taking the cumulative case total to 1,312,310, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Monday.

"In the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 13,592 COVID-19 cases in 84 regions, of which 3,564 (26.2 percent) were detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the response centre said in a statement, specifying that the total count has reached 1,312,310.

The largest increase was identified in Moscow, where 4,395 new positive tests were registered (down from 4,501 yesterday). A total of 538 new cases were recorded in St. Petersburg (up from 528 yesterday) and 440 cases were confirmed in the Moscow region (up from 419 yesterday). No new cases were recorded in the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

The response center reported 125 new coronavirus-related fatalities, down from 149 yesterday, raising Russia's total death toll to 22,722.

As many as 3,793 coronavirus patients were confirmed to have recovered over the last day, down from 4,240 yesterday, bringing the total number of discharges to 1,024,235.

06:47 GMT 12.10.2020

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said that a new COVID-19 tracking app would be launched on 22 October.

06:39 GMT 12.10.2020

The authorities of the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao said on Monday that they would conduct coronavirus testing among the entire population of nearly 9.5 million people amid the resurgence of cases.

This past Sunday, three asymptomatic cases were detected in a local hospital in Qingdao, prompting the authorities to conduct tests among 377 close contacts of these three cases. The testing found another five asymptomatic cases and and four cases with symptoms. Two of the asymptomatic cases later developed symptoms, which brought Qingdao's toll to six asymptomatic cases and six cases with symptoms.

"We developed and launched a universal testing program. With the active collaboration of the general public, the testing proceeds at an accelerated pace. Within three days, we will test residents of five districts, including Shinan, Shibei, Licang, Laoshan and Chengyang. Within five days, the entire population of the city will be tested. The results will be released in a timely manner," the Qingdao Health Committee said in a statement.

So far, nearly 144,000 workers of medical facilities and new patients in hospitals across Qingdao were tested. The results of 11,862 people already came back negative, while the rest is pending.

China was the world's first country to report cases of "mysterious pneumonia," which the World Health Organization later confirmed to be a new strain of a coronaivirus, last December. Beginning in April, the Chinese authorities stopped including asymptomatic cases in their official COVID-19 toll.

As of Monday, China reported 85,578 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 4,634 deaths and 80,714 recoveries.

06:11 GMT 12.10.2020
06:00 GMT 12.10.2020
05:59 GMT 12.10.2020
04:38 GMT 12.10.2020
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