The US is still the most affected nation amid the pandemic, with over 27 million infected, and a death toll in excess of 464,000. Next is India (10.8 million cases, over 155,000 fatalities) and Brazil (over 9.5 million cases, more than 231,000 deaths).
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Canadians returning to their country will now be required to present a negative coronavirus test at the land border crossings beginning on February 15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.
"As of February 15, when you return to Canada through a land border, you will need to show a 72-hour [COVID-19] PCR test, just like for air travel," Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
However, since Canadians have the constitutional right to enter and leave the country, border agents will be powerless to stop those without a negative test from re-entering. To combat possible circumvention of the new measure, those who do not present a negative test could face fines of up to $2,360, Trudeau said.
Since December, the Trudeau government has introduced additional new screening and restrictive measures for returning passengers who left the country for so-called "non-essential."
In addition to having to produce a negative coronavirus test to board their flight, inbound passengers will soon be required to also test upon landing in Canada after which they will be placed in a government-designated hotel at their own expense while awaiting the test results at cost expected to exceed $1,500.
Some Canadian civil liberties groups have characterized the announced measures as setting dangerous precedent and straddle the line of what is constitutional.
Russia may soon send the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to inoculate its diplomatic personnel and Russian citizens who reside in the United States, Russian Ambassador in Washington Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Tuesday.
"Moscow has responded positively to our appeal for vaccination. I think we have a good chance to see a vaccine here in the near future," Antonov said.
The ambassador added that the embassy would also like to be able to offer vaccine shots to Russian citizens who reside in the United States and called on both countries to join forces in their fight against the pandemic.
"The Russian side has repeatedly emphasized and continues to say that we do not need a vaccine war, we do not need a war between doctors. We need cooperation. We have said many times that we could do so much more to save sick people, to protect the US and Russian populations if we cooperate," Antonov said.
Although Sputnik V was slow to take off amid a lack of information about the vaccine, interest shot up after peer-reviewed trial results published last week showed it was almost 92 percent effective against the novel coronavirus.
The Indonesian government has expanded the list of categories of foreign citizens allowed to enter the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian Embassy in Jakarta said on Tuesday.
Jakarta restricted entry to the country for foreign visitors in January and up to February 8, 2021, making expectations for foreigners with a temporary residence permit (KITAS/KITAP) and employees of diplomatic missions accredited in Indonesia.
The Russian embassy wrote on Facebook that the updated list of foreign arrivals allowed to enter the country starting Tuesday includes holders of diplomatic and official visas, temporary residence permits, visas for business trips and investment programs.
The list also includes holders of APEC business travel cards, visas issued at the request of Indonesian government agencies; citizens of border states of Malaysia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea; and citizens and permanent residents of the UAE, China, South Korea and Singapore. The latter are the nations that have signed agreements with Indonesia to set up the so-called "travel corridors."
The ban on entering Indonesia with visas on arrival, and for tourism purposes, remains in effect, the embassy noted.
The diplomatic mission stressed that arrivals are bound to present an English-written confirmation of a negative PCR test for the coronavirus, made no later than 72 hours before the trip. Additionally, visitors are placed on a five-day quarantine upon arrival.
Serbia will have in stocks two million doses of coronavirus vaccines from different manufacturers by the end of February, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday.
Serbian Minister without portfolio Nenad Popovic, who is in charge of innovations and technological development, said that a new batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine was delivered to Belgrade by plane on Tuesday.
"In the morning, 50,000 doses of the Russian vaccine were delivered and another 50,000 doses will be delivered in 15 days for revaccination. Until the end of February, we will receive another 88,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine, 150,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered until February 20 ... Tomorrow [February 10] we will receive 500,000 doses of a Chinese vaccine, and by late February, we will have a total of 2 million doses of vaccines for inoculation of 2 million citizens," Vucic said, as quoted by the state-run Tanjug news agency.
The president previously said that the authorities were planning to vaccinate at least 3 million nationals of the country with a population of 7 million.
On February 11, a group of Russian experts are expected to arrive in Serbia to learn about the country's human and technological resources to set up joint production of the Russian-made vaccine, specifically at the Torlak Institute of Virology in Belgrade.
The Indian National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has not recorded any coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, making it the first of such days in almost 10 months, the health authorities said in a daily bulletin.
According to the official data, Delhi recorded as many as 100 fresh coronavirus cases on Tuesday and 144 recoveries. A total of 56,410 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the health bulletin revealed.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Delhi has recorded 636,260 cases of the infection and 10,882 fatalities.
Meanwhile, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases grew by 9,110 reaching 10,847,304, while the daily deaths fell below 100 for the fifth time this month.
South Korea will begin vaccinating nursery homes residents and staff as well as, if necessary, frontline medical workers with the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine starting 26 February, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC) said on Tuesday.
It was reported on Monday that, starting 24 February, the country's hospitals will receive a shipment of the vaccine for 750,000 people, with at least 2,71 million doses expected to become available in the first quarter of 2021, manufactured by South Korea's SK Bioscience company per the agreement with AstraZeneca. The country's food and drug agency has previously approved the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine while advising caution when giving it to senior citizens, sparking a debate on whether it should be used among elderly patients.
In accordance with the vaccination schedule, both frontline medical workers and people at nursery homes are the first to receive their shots. Seoul originally planned to vaccinate frontline medical workers with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which is expected to arrive in late February from the COVAX Facility. However, if the shipment is delayed, South Korea will use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine instead.
This year, the country hopes to receive a total of 106 million doses from AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Janssen and via the COVAX Facility. Talks are also underway for the purchase of another 40 million doses from US company Novavax.
The country's health authorities also stated that they did not rule out purchasing other vaccines, including Russia's Sputnik V if the already acquired vaccines were not enough or in case any issues emerged.
Russia registered 15,019 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 15,916 the day before, taking the tally to 3,998,216, the coronavirus response centre said on Tuesday.
"Over the past day, 15,019 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 84 regions, including 1,464 cases (9.7 percent) that were detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the cumulative case count has now reached 3,998,216, with the rate of increase at 0.38 percent.
Moscow confirmed 1,584 new coronavirus cases over the given period, down from 1,728 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 1,078 new cases, down from 1,551 the day before, and the Moscow Region with 903 new cases, down from 912 on Monday. No new cases were recorded in the Chukotka Autonomous Region.
The response center reported 530 coronavirus fatalities, up from 407 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 77,598.
Total recoveries count 3,493,886 after 21,795 people were discharged from hospitals over the past day, up from 15,881 the day before.
According to the national consumer health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, over 105 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the pandemic, and 638,807 suspected carriers remain under medical monitoring.
