The US remains the worst-hit nation, with well over 33.6 million coronavirus cases, while around 604,000 Americans have died from the virus. It is followed by India, which suffered from a major wave of COVID in May, with over 30.2 million cases and over 395,000 deaths. Meanwhile, Brazil has the third-highest number of COVID-19 infections (at least 18.4 million cases) and the second-highest death toll in the world - 513,000 fatalities.
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iran is going to extend its COVID-19 vaccination campaign to cover those 65 and older next week, a spokesman for Iran’s National Task Force for Fighting Coronavirus Alireza Raeisi said Monday.
Currently, almost 4,500 people in the nation of 85.5 million have gotten the first dose of vaccine, while over 5,000 are fully vaccinated. The first to get a vaccine were medical workers and people with chronic diseases.
"We are starting vaccination for people over 65 next week, approximately 10 days later we will call on people aged 60 and older to get vaccinated", Alireza Raeisi said, as cited by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
The country's vaccine portfolio includes AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, India's Covaxin, China's Sinopharm and locally made COVIran Barekat.
In the past 24 hours, 12,351 new COVID cases were identified in Iran, with the total of 3,180,042. The pandemic has claimed 83,975 lives, and 2,848,042 people have recovered so far.
India has extended a federal guarantee on bank loans to health and tourism services while waiving visa fees for 500,000 foreign tourists.
The government also extended benefits from the free foodgrain programme for 800 million poor people, launched last year, till November.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Vector research centre has submitted an application to register another COVID-19 vaccine named EpiVacCorona-N in Russia, the Health Ministry’s registry said on Monday.
"Date of registration of the incoming number: 28.06.2021 ... Trade name: EpiVacCorona-N Vaccine based on peptide antigens for the prevention of COVID-19," the registry said.
BANGKOK (Sputnik) - Thai authorities have imposed tough COVID-19 restrictions on Bangkok and nine other provinces due to a sharp rise in coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks, a decree published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette said.
"The government did not introduce a full lockdown. We are talking about measures necessary to reduce the rate of the spread of the infection, and eliminate clusters of infections that have risen in recent weeks", a spokesman for the prime minister told reporters.
From now on, all restaurants in Bangkok, five provinces bordering the capital and four provinces in the south of the country will be open only for take away and delivery for the next 30 days.
In addition, all camps for construction workers will be shut down and construction work will be suspended.
In total, 575 camps will close for 30 days. The camps will be guarded by the police and military and will switch to a full quarantine mode, during which mass COVID-19 testing will be carried out and medical assistance will be provided to those ill right on the spot. Most construction workers in Thailand are migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
In an attempt to escape the quarantine, many construction workers tried to leave the camps before the imposed quarantine measures, and therefore police were deployed to key highways.
Moreover, the decree also bans gatherings of over 20 people and urges citizens to refrain from unnecessary travel between provinces.
Thailand currently has over 43,000 active COVID-19 cases and over 5,000 new ones logged in the past 24 hours. Over 9% of the population have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and around 3% have been fully vaccinated.
"The Health Ministry announces the start of the coronavirus vaccination of those aged 12-18 years with the Pfizer drug", the health ministry wrote on its Twitter page late Sunday.
The country has already used more than 17 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) – India has confirmed 46,148 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of those infected having reached 30,233,183, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday.
The death toll from the disease has reached 395,751 people, with 1,258 new fatalities being recorded over the past day.
