The latest update provided by New Zealand officials indicates that the island nation has documented its very first COVID-19 death since February, while also documenting approximately 20 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday.
Mexico's Health Ministry reported on Friday that officials had documented approximately 17,409 new COVID-19 cases, and more than 725 associated deaths.
The latest tally ups the country's COVID-19 case count to 3,405,294 and death toll to 262,221.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by 25,565 to 20,856,060 within the past 24 hours, the national Ministry of Health said on late Friday.
According to the ministry, the death toll has risen by 756 to 582,670 people within the same period of time.
More than 19.82 million patients have recovered since the start of the outbreak.
A day earlier, the country confirmed 26,280 new coronavirus cases, with 764 fatalities.
The White House will unveil next week its latest strategy to manage the Delta variant of the coronavirus, President Joe Biden said on Friday, as the United States experiences a fresh spike in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
“Next week, I'll lay out the next steps that we are going to need to combat the Delta variant to address some of those fears and concerns we want to talk about; how it will further protect our schools, our businesses, our economy, and our families from the threat of Delta,” Biden told a media briefing at the White House.
COVID-19-related hospitalizations reached a daily average of 100,000 this week for the first time since last winter’s surge as the more transmissible Delta variant began marking its mark.
“As we continue to fight the Delta variant with the American Rescue Plan, we continue to support families, businesses and communities,” Biden said. “Even if some of the benefits that were provided are set to expire next week, states have the option to extend those benefits and the federal resources from the rescue plan to do so.”
Biden did not give much details on what he would announce, saying the plan would continue “access to a wide array of support, like health for schools that are reopening, health for child care centers to make them available and affordable and other resources to help our economy get back to normal.”
More than half of the US population has received at least one dose each of a coronavirus vaccines and new infections in large part involve those who have not received the shots, prompting Biden to call the latest phenomenon “the pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
On Thursday, the US president announced he plans to invest $2.7 billion to ramp up US production of critical vaccine components.
Leading US health officials have advised the Biden administration to wait until more data is available on booster shots against the novel coronavirus before starting a full scale re-vaccination in the United States, the New York Times reported on Friday.
President Joe Biden announced in August that following the issuance of full approval to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US government was planning to start re-vaccination of the so-called fully vaccinated Americans beginning on September 20.
On Thursday, FDA Acting Administrator Janet Woodcock along with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky warned at the White House the agencies need at least several weeks to determine whether to recommend booster shots only for those who were vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine and just for a limited number of people, the report said.
Woodcock has said it is too risky to set a firm date for a booster program since US health regulators have not had enough time to review the available data and reach conclusions whether the third shots were safe and necessary, the report said.
One of the reasons for the delay may be the fact US health regulators need more time to make a decision on the proper dosage for a possible booster shot of the Moderna vaccine as well as that the manufacturer’s application for authorization lacks data, the report said. Manufacturer Johnson & Johnson has not delivered its data yet.
Hassan Firouzabadi, a senior military adviser to the country's supreme leader, died on Friday due to the coronavirus infection at the age of 70, media reported.
Firouzabadi's death was believed to be the results of complications from coronary heart disease, according to reports of some Iranian media.
Firouzabadi served as the chief-of-staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the country's top military post, from 1989-2016, and was a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, designed to resolve disputes between the national parliament and the Guardian Council, which serves as an election and legislation watchdog.
The Philippine Food and Drug Administration has approved the emergency use of the US Moderna coronavirus vaccine to inoculate adolescents aged 12 to 17, the drug regulator’s chief said on Friday.
Eric Domingo told reporters that the emergency use authorization was given after a thorough evaluation by experts, who concluded that the vaccine’s benefits outweighed the risks associated with the fast spreading Delta strain.
The Pacific archipelago nation reported more than 20,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total tally close to 160,000. The Philippines plans to start vaccinating teens in fall once enough shots are available.
The country approved Russia’s one-dose Sputnik Light vaccine last month to accelerate its vaccination campaign.
Russia registered 18,856 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, down from 18,985 the day before, bringing the overall tally to 6,975,174, the country's response centre said on Friday.
"Over the past day, 18,856 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 1,336 cases (7.1%) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the rate of increase stands at 0.27%.
Moscow has the highest number of new cases with 1,633 daily infections, down from 1,864 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 1,437 new cases, up from 1,330, and the Moscow region with 681 new cases, up from 614.
The response centre reported 799 new deaths linked to the coronavirus, up from 798 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 185,611.
In the same 24 hours, 18,690 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals across the country, up from 18,669 the day before, bringing the total to 6,236,738.
The European Union and UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca have agreed to end litigation over the execution of the advance purchase agreement, reaching a deal on the delivery of the remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses to the bloc.
"Today the EU and AstraZeneca have reached an agreement which will secure the delivery of the remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses to Member States under the terms of the Advance Purchase Agreement concluded on 27 August 2020 with AstraZeneca. The agreement will also end the pending litigation before the Brussels Court," the commission said in a statement.
"Today's settlement agreement guarantees the delivery of the remaining 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by AstraZeneca to the EU. While this week we reached the important milestone of 70% full vaccination of the EU's adult population, there are significant differences in vaccination rates between our Member States, and the continued availability of vaccines, including AstraZeneca's, remain crucial," Stella Kyriakides, EU commissioner for health and food safety, was quoted as saying.
India has confirmed 45,352 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of those infected having reached 32,903,289, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday.
The death toll from the disease has reached 439,895 people, with 366 new fatalities being recorded over the past day.
More than 32.06 million people have recovered in India since the start of the outbreak.
A day earlier, the country confirmed 47,092 new coronavirus cases, with 509 fatalities.
The Russian healthcare system is prepared for the possible autumn wave of infectious diseases; has enough hospital beds and medicines, Russian Deputy Health Minister Viktor Fisenko said on Friday.
According to the official, the ministry expects the rise of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Fisenko also called on people to get inoculated against the coronavirus and flu.
"Our system is well prepared, we have the necessary number of hospital beds, their equipment and medicines," Fisenko said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
from 2-4 September at the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, is aimed at developing business ties and attracting national and international investors to Russia's Far East.
The Sputnik news agency is a general media partner of the forum.
