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FILE PHOTO: Vials labelled AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine placed on displayed EU flag are seen in this illustration picture - Sputnik International

COVID-19 Live Updates: EU Will Extend Extraordinary Vaccine Export Controls Until September

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The number of infected has surpassed 178 million worldwide, while the death toll from the virus has reached 3.87 million, according to data collected by Baltimore, Maryland's Johns Hopkins University.

The list of the most affected countries includes the United States, India, and Brazil.

The US has confirmed over 33.5 million cases so far, and the death toll from COVID-19 is 602,000. Next is India, which faced a devastating spike in April-May, and has registered a total of 29.9 million cases and over 388,000 deaths. Meanwhile, Brazil has confirmed more than 17.9 million cases and the second-highest death toll in the world - around 487,000 fatalities.

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20:44 GMT 22.06.2021

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - Bangladesh on Tuesday cut road and rail traffic to the capital of Dhaka, one of the world’s most populous cities, as it struggles to hold off a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, media said.

Passenger trains going to and from the southern Asian nation’s largest city were suspended until June 30 and long-haul buses were denied entry, forcing people to walk in rainy weather, the Dhaka Tribune said.

19:26 GMT 22.06.2021

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Deaths among US Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by more than 30 percent during the pandemic, the Health and Human Services Department Inspector General’s office said in a report on Tuesday.

"Among all Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes, 22.5 percent died in 2020, which is an increase of one-third from 2019," the report said. "This 32-percent increase amounts to 169,291 more deaths in 2020 than if the mortality rate had remained the same as in 2019."

Each month of 2020, the report added, had a higher mortality rate than the same month in the prior year.

Overall, according to the report, 2 in 5 Medicare patients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, the report said, including around half of Black, Hispanic and Asian beneficiaries.

The inspector general report also said the pandemic's toll on these patients demonstrates the need for increased action to mitigate the effects of the ongoing pandemic and to avert such tragedies from occurring in the future.

The data compiled in the report, the IG said, could play a critical role in understanding health disparities within the nursing home population and dealing with future public health crises.

18:41 GMT 22.06.2021
the U.S. border crossing post at the Canadian border - Sputnik International, 1920
Trudeau Says Gradual Reopening of Canada's Border Matter of Weeks, Not Months
18:32 GMT 22.06.2021

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - India's homegrown Covaxin and Covishield vaccines against the coronavirus are deemed effective against the Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.

"Both Indian vaccines we're using in COVID vaccination program — Covishield and Covaxin — are effective against the Delta variant. But to what extent and what's the proportion of antibodies that they produce, that we will share with you shortly", Bhushan said, as quoted by the Indian news agency ANI.

India has so far recorded 22 cases of the novel COVID-19 strain.

The Delta strain of the coronavirus was first identified in India in December 2020. The Delta Plus was discovered this past March. Earlier in June, the World Health Organisation included the Delta variant in its list of the so-called variants of concern as it became prevalent and caused a sharp surge in infections in some countries, especially India.

18:12 GMT 22.06.2021

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Biden administration is announcing a new timeline for its goal to vaccinate at least 70 percent of all adult Americans by 4 July after it became obvious that the goal would not be met based on the current pace of vaccination, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Tuesday.

“For Americans 30 and older, we have met the President [Joe Biden]'s goal of at least one shot. That is right, we have met the president its 70 percent goal for all us adults 30 and over. And based on today's estimates, we are on track to hit the 70 percent target for those aged 27 and over once the data for the July 4 holiday weekend is fully in", Zients said. “We think it will take a few extra weeks to get to 70 percent of all adults with at least one shot with the 18 to 26 year olds factored in.”

Zients noted that the 70 percent target set by Biden was an “aspirational goal” for the vaccination effort in the United States.

The main reason for the low percentage of vaccinated in the 18-26 age group is the conviction that the novel coronavirus does not pose any danger for them and hence they do not need to get inoculated.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 150 million or 45 percent of Americans over 18 have been fully vaccinated and the percentage of those adults with at least one shot has reached 65 percent, according to the data compiled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

16:44 GMT 22.06.2021

“Whoever doesn’t need to go abroad, don’t go abroad”, the prime minister said at Ben Gurion Airport  adding that the so-called Delta variant is beginning to spread in Israel.

16:44 GMT 22.06.2021

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Doctors in the Japanese city of Okayama mistakenly administered the third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to a woman aged over 90 years old, confusing her with another patient, NHK broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

According to the Japanese channel, the woman came to the hospital on Tuesday for a scheduled appointment with a therapist for a consultation regarding a chronic illness. While waiting in the common room, the nurse called out her name and took her to the examination room, where she was given one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. After that, the woman herself informed the doctor that she had already been given both doses of the vaccine, the broadcaster said.

Reportedly, another patient, who was a full namesake of the 90-year-old, was scheduled for a vaccination at the time. The doctor did not re-check with the patient if she had been vaccinated before and administered the drug to the wrong person.

Currently, the woman is under medical supervision. So far, the third dose of the vaccine did not have any negative effects on her health, the report said.

16:42 GMT 22.06.2021

JOHANNESBURG (Sputnik) - Malawi has used up 99% of all the COVID-19 vaccine doses available in the country after health authorities destroyed almost 20,000 expired AstraZeneca doses, Queen Dube, the chief of health services, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"We have a few doses remaining at the [vaccination] centers. By the close of business today we should be at 99%, so by the end of the week we should have had used up all the doses", Dube said.

The vaccine shortage currently being experienced by the African nation is a result of destroyed shots which had expired, partly due to the low uptake of the vaccines in the country. Malawi received 102,000 AstraZeneca doses from the African Union on 26 March and burned 19,610 of them in mid-May.

"We have received a notification that more AstraZeneca vaccines will be arriving soon. Numbers have increased slightly over the past week but I can confirm that we are officially not in the third wave, but we are expecting the numbers to increase due to the winter season", Dube added.

Asked whether the country was in talks with other vaccine producers such as Russia and other countries, the health official said that at this stage, she could only disclose the fact that they were working with an advisory body on that.

"We are also engaging with our multilateral and bilateral partners", Dube said.

Malawi has so far registered 34,914 COVID-19 cases, coupled with 1,171 deaths and 32,891 recoveries.

16:41 GMT 22.06.2021

LONDON (Sputnik) - Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday that coronavirus restrictions would stay in place until 19 July after a 40% rise in new cases in the last week.

"We intend to maintain the current restrictions applicable in each part of Scotland for the next three weeks", she told a news conference.

Sturgeon said 2,167 cases were recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours. The spike in cases reflects the fact that the faster transmitting Delta variant is now dominant.

"Today’s total of new positive tests is the largest we’ve seen since the peak in January. These numbers still shock. The virus is still with us, but the vaccines are protecting more of us", she added.

Scotland was expected to move to the lowest level of restrictions from 28 June. The rise in cases across the United Kingdom prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week to delay lifting curbs in England from 21 June to 19 July.

15:33 GMT 22.06.2021

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Mexico is planning to donate coronavirus vaccines to five countries this week, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced on Tuesday.

Mexico received a total of 50,288,115 doses of vaccines from six developers, including Russia's Sputnik V.

"We have donated vaccines to Belize, Bolivia and Paraguay. This week we will also send doses to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago", Ebrard said at a press conference.

The donation will consist of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is produced jointly by Mexico and Argentina.

13:51 GMT 22.06.2021
13:19 GMT 22.06.2021
12:24 GMT 22.06.2021
12:14 GMT 22.06.2021
11:11 GMT 22.06.2021
10:56 GMT 22.06.2021

Indian Minister of Textiles and BJP leader Smiriti Irani has hit out at former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi for his comments on India's COVID management and vaccination drive.

Taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, she sarcastically called him a "gyani baba [wise monk]" who is "dishing out pearls of wisdom" to others, while not thinking about why those states governed by his own party fared poorly in curbing the second wave.

She alleged that the second wave began in "Congress-ruled states" and a state governed by the party reported the highest fatality rate. She, however, did not name any state.

10:40 GMT 22.06.2021
10:21 GMT 22.06.2021
April 19, 2018 file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, right, jokes to photographers as he holds an Israeli-made Galil rifle which was presented to him by former Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald Bato Dela Rosa at the turnover-of-command ceremony at the Camp Crame in Quezon city northeast of Manila - Sputnik International, 1920
Philippine President Duterte Threatens to Arrest Those Declining to Get Vaccinated Against COVID
10:06 GMT 22.06.2021
09:46 GMT 22.06.2021
07:20 GMT 22.06.2021

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Sputnik V vaccine guarantees almost 100 percent protection against grave and fatal cases even taking into consideration new coronavirus strains, Vladimir Gushchin, the head of the population variability mechanisms laboratory of the Gamaleya research centre that developed the vaccine, assured on Tuesday.

"Sputnik [V] obviously copes [with the Delta strain] ... The vaccine is still highly effective, it guarantees almost 100 percent protection against grave and fatal cases", Gushchin told SolovievLive YouTube show.

06:53 GMT 22.06.2021
This photograph depicted an Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch (EDLB) public health scientist, holding up a glass slide used for a run on a sequencing machine. - Sputnik International, 1920
Benefits of Genome Sequencing During COVID-19 Pandemic Offer New Hope Against Incurable Diseases
06:35 GMT 22.06.2021

India's key opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to provide $5,000 to families of people who have succumbed to COVID over the last year, arguing that India has the funds for the undertaking.

"I am 100 percent in favour of a COVID compensation fund. We have the funds. The government has collected 4 lakh crore INR in taxes from petrol and diesel", Gandhi stated, addressing a press briefing.

The Congress MP also released a white paper spelling out recommendations for the Modi government to deal with an imminent third wave.

India's federal Home Ministry this week told the apex court that providing $5,000 as relief to COVID victims' families will completely "deplete" the federal coffers.

06:19 GMT 22.06.2021

"We're working on plans to essentially allow the vaccine to bring back some of the freedoms that have had to be restricted to keep people safe", Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News.

The official said the Cabinet is working on allowing a family holiday for citizens. "We'll get there when it's safe to do so... but of course we do want to get those freedoms back... When I'm in a position to be able to say something more concrete, then we will do, but it is absolutely something we're working on, it's something I want to see", he added.

05:45 GMT 22.06.2021
This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab.  - Sputnik International, 1920
Swedish State TV Reporter Claims She Was Forced to Stop Researching COVID-19 Lab Theory
04:50 GMT 22.06.2021
04:47 GMT 22.06.2021

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Cuba's coronavirus vaccine Abdala is 92.28 percent effective, its developer, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), said.

"Abdala achieved 92.28% efficacy in the three-dose regimen and becomes the second candidate vaccine to meet WHO requirements," CIGB said.

Earlier, a group of Cuban biotech companies, BioCubaFarma, reported 62 percent effectiveness of the Soberana 02 vaccine developed by the Finlay Institute.

To date, Cuban experts have developed five candidate vaccines against COVID-19: Soberana 01, Soberana 02, Soberana Plus (developed by the Finlay Vaccine Institute), Abdala and Mambisa (developed by CIGB). Soberana 02 and Abdala are in industrial production.

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