The death toll from the disease has reached 132,162 people, with 584 new fatalities being recorded over the past day. More than 8.4 million people have recovered in India since the start of the epidemic.
India now ranks second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States, which has more than 12.2 million registered COVID cases; Brazil ranks third with nearly 6 million confirmed cases.
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The United States has registered more than 189,000 new coronavirus cases within the past 24 hours marking the largest daily increase in any country since the start of the epidemic, The New York Times newspaper reported citing its calculations.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by 38,397 to 6,020,164 within the past 24 hours, the national Ministry of Health said on late Friday.
The death toll has risen by 552 to 168,613 people within the same period of time. The number of recovered patients has exceeded 5.4 million.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has filed a request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine it developed in cooperation with German laboratory BioNTech, the company said in a statement.
"Pfizer and BioNTech_Group have submitted an EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) request to US FDA for our COVID-19 vaccine candidate," the company said on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Pfizer and BioNTech announced in an earlier press release that they would submit the request for the emergency use of their mRNA vaccine candidate, BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2.
"FDA approval would potentially enable use of the vaccine in high-risk populations in the United States by the middle to end of December 2020," Pfizer said.
The Ontario government on Friday put COVID-19 hotspot cities Toronto and Peel into lockdown, closing salons and gyms, and switching restaurants to takeout only, while leaving schools and child-care centres open, according to a statement by Premier Doug Ford, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, Health Minister Christine Elliott and Finance Minister Rod Phillips, cited by Global News.
DOHA (Sputnik) - The Saudi Arabian government has committed more than $500 million to funding efforts to develop and produce a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus disease, the country's health minister, Tawfig Al Rabiah, said ahead of the G20 Summit on Friday.
"The Kingdom has committed $500 million to support efforts to develop a vaccine against COVID-19," Al Rabiah remarked.
At the same event, Abdullah Al Rabiah, the supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), said that Saudi Arabia will be one of the first countries to receive any vaccines against COVID-19.
"Saudi Arabia has formed committees containing the best vaccination specialists. The Kingdom will be among the first countries to receive a vaccine. Not any vaccine, but an effective one. The Kingdom will receive the safest and most effective vaccine," the KSrelief supervisor general said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15%, the S&P 500 was down by 0.07%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.10%.
A partial lockdown has helped Germany stabilize the epidemiological situation and stop a sharp rise in the COVID-19 infection rate, although the upward trend is not yet fully reversed, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday.
"We have not yet achieved a drop in growth, but we took a first important step - we managed to stop a sharp rise in infection rate and reached stabilization," Seibert said during a briefing.
The spokesman added that the government's goal is to reduce infections to 50 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. At present, the infection rate is approximately 140 cases per 100,000 people.
Germany imposed a one-month partial lockdown in November to curb the spread of COVID-19. The decision was met with protests against the government’s plan in several German cities, including Berlin.
To date, Germany has so far confirmed over 890,000 COVID-19 cases, including more than 570,000 recoveries and over 13,500 related deaths.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that it would submit later on Friday a request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine it developed in cooperation with German laboratory BioNTech.
On Wednesday, Pfizer announced that the final analysis of the phase III clinical trials of the vaccine showed its 95 percent efficiency.
"Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced they will submit a request today to the FDA for Emergency Use Authorization of their mRNA vaccine candidate, BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2, which will potentially enable use of the vaccine in high-risk populations in the U.S. by the middle to end of December 2020," Pfizer said in a press release.
Japan's capital of Tokyo registered 522 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, after the number of cases exceeded the 500 mark for the first time a day prior, local media has reported.
The total number of COVID-19 infections in the Japanese capital rose to 36,778 people, as reported by the Japanese NHK news agency.
On Thursday, Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese economic revitalization minister, who is also responsible for the measures connected with the coronavirus disease, stressed that complying with basic preventive measures in combination with the continuation of economic activity were of utmost importance. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to be careful and wear masks even while eating or while having a conversation to stop the spread of the coronavirus infection.
To date, Japan has confirmed almost 123,000 COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of 1,922, according to the World Health Organization.
More than 90 high-income countries have confirmed their participation in the COVAX program that aims to help low-income countries get access to vaccines, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.
"As of November 2, 94 high-income countries have confirmed their participation in COVAX and 92 low- and middle-income countries. The objective is to purchase 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 for the low- and middle-income countries," von der Leyen told a press conference.
The World Health Organization should play a leading role in preparing for a potential future pandemic, the president of the European Commission said.
There is no need for Japan to reconsider the approval of antiviral drug Remdesivir as a treatment of COVID-19 at the moment, the national media reported on Friday, citing Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu, in light of new recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Earlier in the day, the WHO's Guideline Development Group panel recommended against the use of Remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19, as the latest studies have shown it had no meaningful impact on patient recovery. New evidence pointing to Remdesivir's ineffectiveness was compiled from four international randomized trials involving more than 7,000 COVID-19 inpatients.
According to the NHK broadcaster, Katsunobu said that the WHO guidelines did not exclude the drug's benefit at all but only pointed to insufficient evidence that it improves outcomes for COVID patients.
The official went on to cite the clinical trials that confirmed the drug's partial efficacy to a certain level after the United States authorized its emergency use.
Remdesivir was developed by US biotech firm Gilead Sciences. It was initially intended to treat Ebola, which it proved unable to do, and was later used for treating patients during the SARS and MERS coronavirus outbreaks. On May 7, the Japanese government approved the use of Remdesivir for treating patients with the new coronavirus infection.
In October, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Remdesivir for treating COVID-19 patients 12 years of age and older who require hospitalization and issued a new emergency use authorization for the drug to treat hospitalized pediatric patients who are younger.
Finnish Ambassador to Russia Antti Helantera on Friday stressed great trade potential between the European Union and Russia, despite the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I would like to emphasize once again that the European Union, the EU countries together are Russia's largest trading partner. And in spite of the economic problems and difficulties connected with the pandemic, I am sure that there is still great potential for development and growth in trade between Russia and the EU," Helantera said at the online Northern Dimension Forum conference dedicated to business response to the pandemic.
The conference is broadcast from Russia's Skolkovo business school.
The European Union is Moscow's largest trade partner, with the bloc's trade deficit with Russia being second only to the one with China.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has already produced 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine and expects to have 50 million ready to be shipped by the end of year, according to CEO Albert Bourla.
Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, Bourla said that production of the vaccine had been ongoing from when efficacy trials placed its effectiveness at over 90 percent.
“Already we are making it, I have to tell you, we have already produced more than 20 million doses and we continue, as we speak, to produce more and more. This is why we said that by the end of the year… we expect to have 50 million doses,” Bourla said, adding that Pfizer expects to produce around 1.3 billion doses over the next year.
He went on to state that the company was already applying with all health authorities around the world for authorization to distribute the vaccine and “to start shipping within a couple of hours after we receive the green light.”
In response to how Pfizer will ensure that the vaccine does not end up being hoarded by wealthy nations that can pay for it, Bourla said that Pfizer was developing a pricing tier system by which poorer nations can acquire the vaccine from Pfizer on a not-for-profit basis.
About one million people have already been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) during trials, and no serious side effects were identified, Liu Jingzhen, the chairman of the corporation, said on Friday.
"Sinopharm has already vaccinated about 1 million people against the COVID-19, and we have not received any reports of serious adverse reactions, there were only a few people with mild symptoms," Liu said, as cited by the company's website.
The chairman added that the two vaccines developed by the company were already in the third phase of clinical trials in 10 countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Peru and Argentina. More than 60,000 people took part in the tests abroad, while 40,000 of them had already received two injections. After 14 days from the second injection, they took blood samples from the patients for analysis, and the results were extremely good.
Liu said that the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines hold leading positions worldwide in areas such as the progress of research and development, clinical trials, manufacturing and emergency use.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will prioritize the coronavirus fight and the effort to minimize the consequences of the pandemic for the economy at the upcoming summit of G20 leaders, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"This year, there is one topic that everyone finds important, I believe it is the fight against the spreading of the coronavirus infection, and minimization of influence of the pandemic on the global socioeconomic sector," Peskov told reporters.
UK’s public sector debt has reached £2.08 trillion ($2.6 trillion) at the end of October, a level not seen since in the last 60 years, as a result of government borrowing to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday.
“Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks (PSND ex) rose by £276.3 billion [$366,4 billion] in the first seven months of the financial year to reach £2,076.8 billion at the end of October 2020, or around 100.8% of gross domestic product (GDP),” the official report said.
According to the ONS, debt to GDP ratios in recent months have reached levels last seen in the early 1960s, as the Government has invested billions of pounds in supporting the economy through the pandemic.
“The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a substantial impact on public sector borrowing, the report added, warning also that the money borrowed by the public sector in the financial year to October could reach £372.2 billion ($493.7 billion) by the end of March, 2021.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called on residents to be vigilant while planning year-end gatherings with friends and family as COVID-19 figures in Japan keep reaching new highs, media reported.
"We advise people with pre-existing conditions not to dine in a group. Anyone who lives with family members who are at a higher risk of falling seriously ill are also advised to refrain from such outings," Koike said, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Koike, who has come to the fore in the country’s efforts against COVID-19, introduced the so-called five smalls, calling on dinners to have a small number of people, small amount of time, small voices, small plates, and small factors, the broadcaster reported.
Elsewhere, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu also called for extreme caution but said that the country’s expert panel has not issued a stage four alert level - from four levels - which would automatically entail a state of emergency according to NHK.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has sent a letter to the Federal Reserve, asking the body to return unused $455 billion allocated for emergency lending programs under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that are set to expire at the end of the year.
"With respect to the facilities that used CARES Act funding ... I was personally involved in drafting the relevant part of the legislation and believe the Congressional intent as outlined in Section 4029 was to have the authority to originate new loans or purchase new assets ... expire on December 31, 2020. As such, I am requesting that the Federal Reserve return the unused funds to the Treasury. This will allow Congress to re-appropriate $455 billion, consisting of $429 billion in excess Treasury funds for the Federal Reserve facilities and $26 billion in unused Treasury direct loan funds," Mnuchin said on Thursday.
According to the secretary, in the unlikely event if, in the future, it becomes necessary to recover these funds, the Federal Reserve may request approval from the Secretary of the Treasury.
"I am deeply honored to have worked on executing these programs and hope that because of our collective actions, Congress will show similar trust in Federal Reserve Chairs and Treasury Secretaries in the future," Mnuchin added.
The CARES Act was passed back in March in a bid to overcome economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The measure provided about $3 trillion in grants and loans to US businesses and paycheck protection to qualifying citizens and permanent residents.
Australia's state of South Australia will lift the coronavirus-related lockdown three days earlier than scheduled after a worker of a local pizzeria was caught deliberately lying to the authorities about his contacts and exposure to the virus, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said on Friday.
South Australia declared a six-day lockdown on Wednesday for the authorities to carry out contact tracing in a timely manner amid an accelerated spread of the coronavirus. All businesses, schools and mass ceremonies were suspended. Since then, the authorities carried out investigations to establish chains of infection.
"What those investigations showed is that one of the close contacts linked to the Woodville Pizza Bar deliberately misled our contact tracing team. This story didn't add up. We pursued them. We now know that they lied," Marshall said at a press conference.
The man told the authorities that he had contracted the virus after purchasing pizza at the store while in actuality he worked there. This means that his exposure to the virus was much broader, and Marshall said that contact tracers were already on it, seeking to locate and isolate "thousands of people who may have had dangerous contact at the Woodville Pizza Bar."
"Just as we have acted immediately to put restrictions in place to keep South Australians safe, we are going to act to lift them much sooner than previously advised. I will not let the disgraceful conduct of a single individual to keep South Australia in this circuit breaker conditions one day longer than what is necessary," Marshall said, adding that "Effective immediately, an exercise in family groups is now permitted, and effective as of midnight on Saturday [13:30 Friday, GMT], the stay at home order will be repealed."
The South Australian authorities will still keep in place some of the restrictions regarding the number of people allowed to gather in groups in various settings. For example, attendance at funerals will be limited to 50 people and at private home gatherings to 10 people.
Australia has no legislation in place to hold the man who lied accountable, but the premier said he was "fuming" about their actions.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) panel of experts does not recommend the use of remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 as the latest studies have shown it had no meaningful impact on patient recovery.
The WHO’s Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel said that new evidence pointing to remdesivir’s ineffectiveness was compiled from four international randomized trials involving more than 7,000 COVID-19 inpatients. The conclusion was published in the British Medical Journal as part of the so-called living guidelines, which seeks to fast-track COVID-19 studies for the medical community.
The GDG panel, four members of which are COVID-19 survivors, found that intravenously delivered remdesivir “has no meaningful effect on mortality or on other important outcomes for patients, such as the need for mechanical ventilation or time to clinical improvement,” a statement accompanying the study read.
The study detailed that administration of the drug did not have a clear impact on the recovery or mortality rates of severely ill patients, nor does it cut down on the need for patients to be put onto ventilators.
The panel went on to say that it would continue to evaluate studies on the drug’s effectiveness but said it would not be fully understood until the manufacturer, US pharmaceutical firm Gilead, released full clinical study reports.
The new recommendations contradict the US’ Food and Drug Administration’s stance, having approved remdesivir for clinical use even for infants.
Originally developed as a malaria drug, remdesivir gained global attention in April when US President Donald Trump touted it as a “game-changer” in the treatment of the disease.
The president would go on to be treated with the drug when he contracts COVID-19 in October along with a cocktail of experimental drugs.
Japan does not intend to scrap its Go To Travel campaign, aimed at boosting domestic travels, despite a record daily increase of COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday.
The country registered a record number of new coronavirus cases on Thursday, 2,388. Its capital of Tokyo had also detected a record number of cases, raising the danger level to maximum but opting not to limit the work of the catering industry.
"The main idea is to combine anti-pandemic and economic restoration measures. We will continue to act this way. Forty million people have already used the Go To Travel campaign, and there are only 176 infected among its participants," Suga emphasized.
Go To Travel offers discounts on travel within Japan for citizens and legal residents in order to aid local economies amid the pandemic.
