The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 10,242,754, including 239,618 fatalities.
India and Brazil, which come next in the list of the most-affected countries, have reached 8,591,730 and 5,699,005 cases in total, respectively.
Follow Sputnik's live feed to find out more.
Finland's flag carrier Finnair will suspend flights to China's Nanjing from November 20 and cancel a flight to Shanghai on November 19 due to a rise in the COVID-19 incidence, the airline said in a statement.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China announced on June 4 that it would allow foreign airlines to operate a maximum of one flight per week. Certain conditions have been established for air transportation to China: if, after landing, five infected passengers are detected on one flight, the airline's flights should be suspended for one week. Ten infections will entail a suspension for four weeks.
"We will suspend our flights between Helsinki and Nanjing in China temporarily from 20 November 2020 onwards due to the policy regarding the threshold for coronavirus cases detected following a 2-week quarantine after entry to China," Finnair said.
"We continue to operate to Shanghai once weekly, but our flight on 19 November and the return flight on 21 November will be cancelled. We are sorry for the harm this situation may cause you," it said.
Finnair is Finland's largest airline, founded in 1923, part of the OneWorld alliance. The controlling stake belongs to the state.
Moldovan President Igor Dodon said he expected to receive from Russia 100,000-150,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of November.
Earlier, the Moldovan authorities reported 84,707 registered cases of the novel coronavirus disease, with 1,950 deaths.
"We agreed with the Russian Federation to receive the vaccine in the second half of November. Those who work on the first line will be the first to be vaccinated, but I am also ready to be vaccinated among the first so that people are not afraid, we hope to receive 100,000-150,000 doses of vaccines," Dodon said on REN Moldova TV channel.
He said vaccinations should be free and voluntary. First of all, the vaccines will be received by doctors, teachers and border guards.
The worldwide number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has surpassed 52 million, Johns Hopkins University says.
The exact number of the coronavirus cases stood at 52,041,441 as of 01:50 GMT on Thursday. More than 1.28 million people have died of the disease, the university added.
The Egyptian authorities expect to receive about 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, which will be certified by the World Health Organization (WHO), the country's cabinet said in a statement.
The cabinet held a meeting of the health committee on Wednesday, during which the situation with various vaccines against COVID-19, which are now in clinical trials, was discussed. In particular, Health Minister Hala Zayed spoke about the trials of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines.
"An agreement has been reached with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI), according to which Egypt will receive 20 million doses of vaccines successfully certified by WHO," the cabinet said on Facebook.
The United States hit a record-setting 136,325 new daily cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, the latest data from Johns Hopkins University revealed.
The United States has reported more than 10.3 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 240,800 deaths caused by the disease, data showed on Wednesday.
The third wave of COVID-19 infections is underway in the United States as winter approaches.
Numerous US states are facing strained resources at medical facilities, such as shortages of medical personnel and hospital beds, forcing additional lockdowns in the communities considered hotspots.
The Trump administration has vowed to have a vaccine ready to be distributed by the end of the year.
Smoking on crowded streets and at public transport stops will be banned in Turkey from Thursday due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, according to a document from the republic's Interior Ministry.
“According to a previously issued instruction, in all public places, except for residential buildings, citizens are required to wear masks without any exceptions. But when smoking in such places, some people take off their masks, lower them down, not using them correctly. In this regard, from November 12, all provinces ban smoking on crowded streets and at public transport stops," it said.
"It is extremely important to ensure the continuity of the use of masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which is easily transmitted," the ministry said.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca earlier said that the coronavirus pandemic in Turkey had reached its second peak. The number of confirmed cases in Turkey on Wednesday was 2,693, the highest since April 29. The total number of those infected exceeded 400,000, and the death toll rose beyond 11,000.
The US state of New York is introducing a curfew on bars, restaurants and gyms and is limiting indoor gatherings to ten people, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday amid an increase in novel coronavirus cases.
"[New York State] is taking action to stop the spread in response to rising COVID numbers," Cuomo said via Twitter on Wednesday. "Any establishment with a state liquor license, including bars and restaurants, must close at 10:00 p.m. Gyms must also close at 10pm. These new statewide rules will take effect Friday, 10:00 p.m."
In another tweet, Cuomo said the situation concerning the novel coronavirus was "getting worse by the day" across the United States.
"We know indoor gatherings and parties are a major source of COVID spread. To slow the spread, [New York State] will limit indoor gatherings at private residences to ten people," Cuomo announced.
On Wednesday, New York State authorities reported nearly 5,000 new coronavirus cases, nearly half the number at the peak of the pandemic, according to media reports.
The Czech Republic has overcome the peak of the increase in COVID-19 incidence, Health Minister Jan Blatny told reporters.
"The peak of the increase in coronavirus incidence has been left behind, the indicators for new patients, although slowly, are declining. But the number of hospitalized people will remain very high for some time, now there are 8,059 people in hospitals, of whom 1,191 are in serious condition," Blatny said.
According to the minister, 9,016 new patients were registered Tuesday, which is about 3,000 fewer than on the same day a week before. In total, there are currently 147,084 infected people, most of them have a mild form of the disease.
Switzerland has allotted additional 100 million Swiss francs ($109 million) for its fund earmarked to be spent on purchase of coronavirus vaccines, the government said in a press release on Wednesday.
In May, the Swiss government allotted 300 million francs for the purchase of enough vaccine doses of its 8.6 million population.
"At its meeting on November 11, the federal government decided to increase this amount by 100 million francs in order to have sufficient room for manoeuvre for the purchase of additional vaccines. So far, the Confederation has concluded a contract with two manufacturers," the press release read.
These two manufacturers are US pharmaceutical company Moderna and UK company AstraZeneca, with which the Swiss government has already secured a joint total of almost 10 million doses. Additionally, Switzerland is part of the global COVAX initiative, which potentially promises another 3.2 million doses.
"It is currently not possible to say when a vaccine will be available. However, the Federal Office of Public Health estimates that the first vaccinations can be carried out in Switzerland during the first half of 2021," the press release said.
The Swiss government added that it maintains contact with other manufacturers of "promising candidate vaccines" to potentially sign additional contracts.
As of Wednesday, Switzerland has confirmed 99,276 coronavirus cases and 755 related deaths. The Swiss statistics include figures from Liechtenstein.
WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Wednesday voiced the need for more data on COVID-19 vaccine trials amid positive news about the the Pfizer candidate vaccine against COVID-19.
On Monday, Pfizer announced that the vaccine it was developing with BioNTech had been tested to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, according to an interim analysis from the phase 3 clinical study. The trial showed that only 94 participants out of 43,500 developed the virus.
"While we can feel optimistic and hopeful when we see these interim results, it's very important to note that these vaccine trials must continue to accumulate data," Swaminathan commented during a live Q&A session.
According to the WHO estimate, there are currently 47 candidate vaccines, including 10 that are already undergoing phase 3 clinical trials.
Earlier in the day, developers of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V said that it had demonstrated 92 percent efficacy based on the first interim analysis that was obtained 21 days after volunteers received the first injection. The data is based on 20 cases of COVID-19 from 16,000 volunteers given the Sputnik V vaccine or a placebo injection.
Vaccine platforms using the mRNA and DNA technology, if they end up successful against COVID-19, will enhance the global preparedness for future pandemics, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday.
"I also think that this mRNA platform and the DNA platform — if it's proven in this pandemic that it has worked — then I think we'll be in a different position, because this platform allows you to very rapidly insert the genes of any new virus that comes along. So, hopefully we'll be better prepared for the next pandemics," Swaminathan told a virtual Q&A session on social media.
Many candidate vaccines against COVID-19 were built on the mRNA platform. This includes the recently announced vaccine by the Pfizer-BioNTech tandem, which the creators have claimed had proven over 90 percent effective so far.
It is believed that it is cheaper and faster to develop mRNA vaccines than traditional ones. They work by introducing sequences of molecules designed to make cells produce disease specific antigens and trigger a regular immune response.
At the same time, the mRNA technology is less studied and therefore entails more risks than more well-researched methods, such as the human adenoviral vectors, which was used by Russia is creating its Sputnik V vaccine, the efficiency of which is estimated at 94 percent.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal is having every country around the globe being able to immunize 20 percent of the population against the coronavirus next year, Kate O’Brien, the director of the WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, said on Wednesday.
"What we are really aiming for is in 2021 that every country around the world is able to immunize at least 20% of their population. That's the goal," O'Brien told a virtual Q&A session on social media.
The WHO official added if "we can really get that amount of vaccine" to all the countries, then the highest-priority groups are going to have some degree of protection against COVID-19.
According to the WHO estimate, there are currently 47 candidate vaccines, including 10 that are already at phase 3 clinical trials.
The death toll from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the United States has surpassed 240,000, accounting for nearly a fifth virus-related fatalities worldwide, the latest data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center showed on Wednesday.
The exact death toll now stands at 240,044, while the number of confirmed cases has reached 10,272,929 according to the data.
There is no evidence at this point that the mutations of the coronavirus could impact the immune response triggered by a vaccine, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday.
Last week, a mutated strain of the coronavirus causing COVID-19 was discovered in minks in Denmark, prompting the United Kingdom ban all Danish arrivals. The animal-to-human transmission of the virus has been confirmed by Danish and other European authorities long before that.
"So far there's no evidence that any of the mutations that we have seen would have any impact on the immune response that a vaccine would elicit," Swaminathan told a virtual Q&A session on social media.
Mutations of the original coronavirus strain have been regularly being reported by many countries since late January.
Earlier on Wednesday, a senior official at the Russian federal health oversight authority, Alexander Gorelov, said that mutations had so far been detected in less than one percent of coronavirus genome.
"All the vaccine in our country was bought by the Russian state, so it seems to me that it is not sold either by retail or in any other way", Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, said at a meeting of Jewish Business Club Solomon.
"Even when we have a safe and effective vaccine this will not be a silver bullet that will change and make COVID-19 disappear overnight", EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Wednesday.
The commissar has added that people have grown tired of measures to counteract the virus that undermine everyday life, but they will have to be followed for some time even after a vaccine is introduced.
Two Christmas markets will open in the Swiss capital of Bern in late November, but the city authorities have banned the sale of food and drinks, including traditional mulled wine, due to anti-coronavirus measures, a statement published on Wednesday on the city website said.
"Directorate of Security, the Environment and Energy has issued permission to hold the city Christmas markets in Bern. The construction of the markets will start on 23 November", the statement said.
According to the statement, this year's markets are held under anti-coronavirus measures to prevent the dissemination of the infection, and "there will be no food and drinks presented in the Christmas markets, including the gluhwein booths."
On 27 November, one Christmas market will open at the city’s main square of Waisenhausplatz, and the other will be ready to receive visitors at Munsterplatz square starting November 28.
"Christmas markets are connected with Advent season in Bern, like the Christmas tree with Christmas … I am very glad that we will be able to contribute to the Christmas atmosphere in Bern with the markets, especially in the current situation", head of the directorate Reto Nause said, as quoted in the statement.
According to the Swiss Federal Health Office, the country has recorded 243,472 COVID-19 cases, with 2,769 deaths. In the past 24 hours, Switzerland reported 8,270 infections.
Trials of the Chinese coronavirus vaccine Coronavac in Brazil have been resumed, health watchdog Anvisa said on Wednesday.
Previously, Anvisa temporarily halted testing of the Coronavac vaccine from the Sinovac laboratory in connection with a "serious incident" due to the death of one of the volunteers. According to media report, it could be about suicide.
"Anvisa has just authorised the reopening of a clinical trial for the Coronavac vaccine", the watchdog said.
It said that it had been informed of the reasons for the serious incident due to which the tests were suspended, but did not disclose them.
Fifteen foreign ambassadors were presented the Russian coronavirus vaccines Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona during a virtual event hosted by the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.
Attending the meeting were ambassadors of Burundi, Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Colombia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Montenegro, Italy, Sri Lanka and Japan, among others, as well as 45 diplomats representing other embassies.
"During the meeting, it was announced for the first time that the Sputnik V vaccine's effectiveness has reached 92 percent," the press release read.
The two vaccines were presented in more detail by their developers — the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology for Sputnik V and the Vector research center for EpiVacCorona. They also replied to questions of the foreign diplomats.
Germany expects to get 100 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine as part of the 300 million dose deal that the European Union is signing with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech, the spokesman for the German Health Ministry said Wednesday.
"This concerns BioNTech vaccine, indeed. This is about Germany having requested up to 100 million doses of the vaccine from the EU. However, if all member states ask for their share — which for a long time it hasn't looked like they would but may now change based on latest reports — we will begin bilateral talks with the company to obtain these 100 million," Hanno Kautz told a press coference.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that the bloc wanted to sign a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech to secure up to 300 million doses of their jointly developed coronavirus vaccine. Earlier on Wednesday, the commission said it had agreed a deal on purchase of vaccines from these two companies.
Russia sent COVID-19 test kits and drugs as part of a humanitarian relief effort to Syria, Mikhail Mizintsev, the the Russian-Syrian Inter-agency Coordination Headquarters for the Return of Refuge said Wednesday.
"More than 78 tonnes of humanitarian cargo, including test systems and drugs to combat COVID-19 have been delivered from Russia," Mizintsev said at the International Conference on the Return of Refugees in Damascus.
Mizintsev spoke of the outcomes of his organization’s activity in facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
The conference in Damascus aims to discuss the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, and to convey information about the process to an international audience.
People over the age of 65 and health workers will be the first to be vaccinated against the coronavirus disease in Spain once the country obtains the doses of Pfizer vaccine in early 2021, Spanish news agency Vanguardia reported on Wednesday citing sources close to the team who prepare vaccine strategy.
The second priority group to be vaccinated will be those who are at risk due to their state of health as well as transport operators, security forces and workers who are unable to maintain social distance or vulnerable socioeconomic groups.
According to the news agency, young people will be the last to be vaccinated. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that the vaccine will be widely available by 2022.
UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) chief executive, June Raine, said on Wednesday that any potential COVID-19 vaccine must meet the highest standards before it is rolled out in the United Kingdom.
"The public can be confident that all those tests will be done at the highest standards," Raine said at a new weekly COVID-19 briefing led by England Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van Tam.
After assuring that all the data of the vaccine will be reviewed, she said that once the vaccine is deployed, it will be continuously monitored by the MHRA.
"In a nutshell, our job is to work at the highest possible standards to work independently, and safety is our watchword," Raine stressed.
UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Tuesday that the National Health Service has been asked to prepare for the rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 from December.
Texas has become the first US state to reach a milestone of over a million coronavirus cases, Johns Hopkins University data showed on Wednesday.
According to the latest figures provided by the university, Texas has confirmed 1,010,364 COVID-19 infections and 19,337 related fatalities. Texas is followed by California, which, according to the data, has 989,432 COVID-19 cases, and the death toll is at 18,066.
Overall, the United States had registered 10,2588,090 cases of COVID-19, still topping the list of countries affected by the pandemic. The death toll stands at 239,695.
The Mongolian authorities are closing the border crossing points with Russia and introducing a three-day quarantine regime in the capital of Ulaanbaatar after the detection of coronavirus from a truck driver who entered the country from Russian territory, the state media reported on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the country's health minister, Togtmol Munkhsaikhan, said that a truck driver who had passed on October 14 through the Altanbulag border checkpoint on the Mongolian-Russian border and whose first COVID-19 tests were negative tested positive after the end of the 21-day isolation period. His wife also tested positive.
According to the Mongolian Montseme state news agency, the cabinet of ministers decided to close the Altanbulag checkpoint from 16 November to 15 January. The authorities have decided to create a special zone during the closure period of Altanbulag and also plan to discuss the transportation of goods by railroad with Russia.
The cabinet has also decided to close the Tes, Artssuuri, Ulikhan, Ereentsav and Borshoo border points with Russia for an indefinite period starting 16 November. However, the Tsagaannuur border checkpoint in the Bayan-Ulgii province will remain open every second and fourth week of each month starting on 23 November to allow fuel transportation.
A three-day quarantine is being introduced in Ulaanbaatar. The isolation mode is already in force as of Wednesday. Preschool institutions, schools and universities are temporarily closed. The movement of cars and railroad transport from the capital is blocked, although it is still possible to make trips to the capital. The authorities also banned entertainment, social and cultural events.
To date, Mongolia has confirmed 382 imported cases of COVID-19, with no deaths recorded.
Russia has registered 19,851 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from 20,977 yesterday, bringing the total to 1,836,960, the federal response centre said on Wednesday.
"In the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 19,851 COVID-19 cases in 85 regions, of which 4,932 (24.9 percent) were detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the response centre said, adding that the case count has reached 1,836,960.
Moscow reported 4,477 COVID-19 cases, down from 5,902 yesterday. This is the highest daily increase of all Russia's regions, followed by St. Petersburg with 1,574 cases (up from 1,485 yesterday) and Moscow region with 701 cases (up from 685 yesterday).
The response center reported a new single-day record of 432 coronavirus fatalities, up from 368 yesterday, raising the country’s death toll to 31,593.
The daily discharges also hit a new record, as 18,616 coronavirus patients were confirmed to have recovered, up from 15,600 yesterday, bringing the total to 1,369,357.
The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has confirmed its first case of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a government update on Wednesday.
"On 10 November 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Vanuatu. The case was asymptomatic (not sick) and was detected in quarantine during routine day 5 testing," an update posted on the government's coronavirus disease portal read.
Len Tarivonda, Vanuatu's director of public health, confirmed that the individual tested positive after returning from the United States via Auckland, New Zealand.
Prior to the announcement, Vanuatu was one of just a handful of countries, the majority of which are Pacific island nations, not to have declared any positive tests for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic at the turn of the year.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed by a record 3.6 million globally last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
As of 8 November, the global tally totaled over 49.7 million cases, which is 8 percent more compared to the previous week.
The death toll rose by over 54,000 over the same period.
The previous all-time high of over 3.3 million infections was recorded in the week from 26 October to 1 November.
Rahul Gandhi, one of the leaders of India's Congress party, criticised the Narendra Modi government's COVID-19 vaccine strategy.
Rahul Gandhi said the Indian government needs to work out a "distribution strategy" for the vaccine.
Even though Pfizer has created a promising vaccine, the logistics for making it available to every Indian need to be worked out.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 11, 2020
GOI has to define a vaccine distribution strategy and how it will reach every Indian. pic.twitter.com/x5GX2vECnN
Turkey has expressed interest in organizing production of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V at the facilities of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers, the Russian Health Ministry said on Wednesday, commenting on the recent conversation of Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and his Turkish counterpart, Fahrettin Koca.
"The head of the Turkish Health Ministry expressed interest in organizing production of the Sputnik V vaccine at the facilities of Turkish pharmaceutical manufacturers after the toxicological research envisioned by the local legislation," the Russian Health Ministry said in a statement.
Murashko assured Koca of Russia's readiness to conduct the research in a certified laboratory, the ministry added.
"The sides agreed to start implementing the agreements in the coming days," the statement read on.
