The United States has the highest case count in the world, followed by India and Brazil, while the largest number of coronavirus-related deaths has been observed in the US, Brazil, India, and Mexico, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The global vaccination campaign continues, with some countries, however, requiring lockdowns as well, while others are beginning to consider the need for a booster shot for those who have been vaccinated.
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Ukraine and the European Union agreed on the mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination passports, Denys Shmyhal, the country's prime minister, announced on Sunday.
In early May, the Ukrainian health ministry said that COVID-19 certificates can be introduced in the country from July 1. They will include information on vaccinations, PCR tests or COVID-19 immunity after recovering from illness.
"Ukraine and the European Union have reached a political agreement on mutual recognition of the so-called 'vaccination passports.' The EU has recently announced that it will introduce digital certificates that will contain data on vaccinations, COVID-19 tests and acquired immunity by the end of June. As soon as the initiative entered the development stage, I instructed the ministers to prepare a similar certificate for Ukraine together with the European Commission," Shmyhal wrote on Facebook.
Kiev previously reached such agreements with Hungary and Moldova.
German biotech firm CureVac began working on expanding production capabilities for its COVID-19 vaccine ahead of expected approval by the European drug regulator in the next few weeks, Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reported on Sunday, citing the company representative.
"We hope for approval in the course of the second quarter," Sarah Fakih, CureVac spokeswoman was cited as saying by the newspaper.
According to Augsburger Allgemeine, the company expects its drug to be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) by June this year, at the latest.
"The EMA has received a lot of research data from us. When the authorities have everything, we can submit the formal application," Fakih was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Ahead of the authorization, CureVac has been working on expanding its production capacities with several potential partners so that it could immediately start deliveries of several million vaccine doses, the newspaper said. The EU reportedly ordered 225 million shots from CureVac, most of which are scheduled to be delivered by year-end.
French Secretary of State for the Digital Economy Cedric O on Sunday said he was not worried about an investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) on the TousAntiCovid tracing app, designed to provide coronavirus-related information about its user, over suspected favoritism in designating a firm for the app maintenance.
The PNF confirmed it launched the preliminary investigation following a related complaint filed by the anti-corruption association Anticor in the spring of the last year. The association claimed that it found no documents for public contracts for the state-backed app, which was announced to be developed by private companies free of charge, while its maintenance was invoiced for a sum of up to 300,000 euros ($365,000) per month, a contract subject to a compulsory call for tenders. The government, however, appointed the data storage company Outscale, a subsidiary of the French leading software company Dassault Systems, to be the contractor without calling for other bids.
"Am I worried about the [investigation] procedure? No," Cedric O said on the Franceinfo broadcaster, recalling that he piloted the project and stressing that related "rules" were respected.
The minister explained that the government did not introduce tenders for the maintenance contract for such reasons as lack of time, given the procedure would have taken months, and the "highest guarantee" given by the Outscale firm.
He also estimated the overall cost of the app, including its development, maintenance, and communication, at 7 million euros.
The TousAntiCovid app was launched on 2 June 2020 under the initial name StopCovid. According to Cedric O, to date 16.5 million have downloaded the app, designed to contain the user's information on coronavirus tests, vaccination, and infection history.
Russia registered 8,951 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, which brings the cumulative total to 5,001,505, the federal coronavirus response centre said Sunday.
As before, Moscow registered the largest number of new cases, 2,924. St Petersburg recorded the second largest number of 842, and the Moscow region registered 769 new cases.
In the past 24 hours, 7,297 people were discharged with full recovery, and 56 died.
Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, on Sunday announced the extension of the lockdown restrictions in India's capital territory was extended until 31 May as part of the strategy to ensure that the COVID-19 infections continue to decline.
"I consulted many people and the general opinion favoured lockdown extension for one week. So, Delhi government has decided that lockdown will be extended to 5 AM on 31 May," Kejriwal said, as cited by the Press Trust of India.
He specified that Delhi has confirmed some 1,600 fresh coronavirus infections over the past day, marking the drop in the incidence rate to below 2.5%.
This is the fifth time when the Delhi authorities prolong the restrictions. The previous extension was scheduled to expire on Monday.
The lockdown was first announced in the city on 19 April, with private businesses instructed to work remotely; restaurants, non-food stores, and shopping centers to close. Besides, the authorities banned mass gatherings and events and limited the number of passengers on public transport. A 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was imposed.
Some of the facilities were since allowed to resume work, including government organizations, hospitals, police and fire departments, grocery stores, banks, utility suppliers, and internet access services.
To date, the country has confirmed over 28 million COVID-19 cases and almost 300,000 related fatalities.
The crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic cost the German economy 300 billion euros ($365.4 billion), the head of the German Economic Institute (IW), Michael Huther, says.
Huther told the German Die Welt daily that a large portion of the losses is due to the renewed lockdown that was introduced amid the second wave of COVID-19.
"It will take years before the losses and structural distortions are balanced out," Huther said, adding that "we must not succumb to the illusion that the crisis will no longer leave its mark. Without Corona the economy would have grown significantly."
In March, the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research decreased Germany’s GDP growth forecast for 2021 from 4.2 to 3.7 percent, citing high coronavirus infection rates.
