COVID-19 Live Updates: UK Sees Largest Spike in Daily Cases With 6,634 New Confirmed Infections

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A serious increase in hospitalisations with coronavirus is observed in Moscow, which suggests that the situation is getting more complicated, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.

"In addition to detection, we see a serious increase in hospitalizations. This is not a joke at all, it means that the situation is getting more complicated. We need to be careful, comply with the requirements of doctors," Sobyanin said.

However, a source familiar with the situation told Sputnik that the Moscow authorities did not plan to close the city's economy either now or from October.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - President Donald Trump has no intent to shut the economy down again over the COVID-19, even as a study shows that 90 percent of the population may be vulnerable to the virus, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday.

“First of all, let me say President Trump in no way would support another shutdown of the country and the economy. No way. He will completely oppose that,” Kudlow said during an appearance on the Fox Business network.

The United States has reported nearly seven million infections from the novel strain of the coronavirus so far and more than 200,000 deaths, making it the worst country hit by the pandemic, data monitored by the Johns Hopkins University showed.

Nearly half of the 50 US states have reported a rise in new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, with the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield saying a study by the agency showed more than 90 percent of the population was susceptible - meaning more than 295 million Americans could still get infected with the virus.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday during a Security Council meeting that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should provide enhanced access to facilities and tools to countries impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"We need the World Bank Group on the International Monetary Fund to support member countries through enhanced access to facilities and tools," Guterres said. "Network multilateralism must extend beyond peace and security, encompassing the Bretton Woods institutions, development banks, trade alliances and more."

Guterres pointed out that the pandemic has highlighted multiple vulnerabilities worldwide, including increased humanitarian needs, and reversed decades of progress on sustainable development.

Meanwhile the international community is not keeping pace with the world as it is, Guterres added.

The UN chief said countries around the world must unite in promoting multilateral institutions that are ready to react to the range of challenges the pandemic has put forth.

"We have no choice: either we come together in global institutions that are fit for purpose or we will be crushed by deviousness and chaos," Guterres said.

The COVID-19 dashboard is currently experiencing technical difficulties. We can confirm that:

6,634 new positive cases have been recorded on Thursday 24 September, giving a total of 416,363.

40 new deaths have been reported across the UK, giving a total of 41,902.

— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) September 24, 2020

"The events this year have shown that no one can simply cordon themselves off from these threats. The coronavirus infection has impacted everyone and this means that overcoming its consequences is something that we need to do together and to push, therefore, away our momentary differences. Unfortunately, our common misfortune did not iron out interstate differences but, to the contrary, deepened them," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday at the debate of the UN Security Council on international peace and security.

The authorities of the French city of Marseille have expressed disagreement with the government's decision to impose fresh coronavirus-related restrictions and asked the government to give the city 10 days before introducing them to see if the spread of the virus slows down, First Deputy Mayor of Marseille Benoit Payan said on Thursday.

The official noted that, according to the health ministry’s data, the peak of the current phase of the pandemic was reached between September 3-9, and the infections had been declining in Marseille ever since. Meanwhile, the city, along with the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, has been put on the "red zone" list, which includes highly infected areas of the country. In this regard, French Health Minister Olivier Veran has ordered bars and restaurants in both areas to close starting Saturday for two weeks. In other large cities, the public facilities will have to shut their doors no later than 10 p.m. (20:00 GMT).

"Together with the mayor [of Marseille], I ask the government for 10 days before the new measures are introduced. If at the end of next week, the indicators [of infection rate] go up, we will be ready to make this mandatory decision, which will be understood by everyone," Payan told reporters.

He added that the government has not consulted with the local authorities on its decision. The implementation of such measures would put Marseille in a "semi-quarantine" mode, Payan noted.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has also disagreed with the government’s decision, speaking live on the BFMTV broadcaster.

France has seen a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, with the most recent daily record high of 13,498 cases confirmed on 19 September. Some restrictive measures, including the requirement to wear masks while outdoors and in shared spaces, have been in effect since August.

Some 870,000 Americans filed for jobless benefits last week, up slightly from the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, as the US job market continued to struggle six months into the coronavirus pandemic.

“In the week ending 19 September, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 870,000,” the Labor Department said in a news release. It revised claims in the previous week to 12 September to 866,000, putting the current week’s rise at 4,000.

Those inoculated with EpiVacCorona, which is to become Russia’s second registered vaccine against the coronavirus, will be recommended to receive a booster shot no more frequently than once in three years, the chief of Novosibirsk-based state research center Vector said.

On Tuesday, the national consumer health watchdog said that another Russian vaccine, developed by the Vector research center and dubbed EpiVacCorona, would be registered by 15 October.

"After a vaccination cycle, the next revaccination will be required no more frequently than once every three years," Rinat Maksyutov said in a documentary about vaccines, aired by the Rossiya 1 channel.

The flight crew of Expedition 64 to the International Space Station (ISS) will not be vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of their 14 October liftoff, Commander Sergey Ryzhikov said on Thursday.

“The International Space Station is now the safest place on the planet or in the near-planetary sphere. We do not need to get vaccinated, because we strictly follow all sanitary precautions and we have a large support team that provides them reliably," Ryzhikov said at a news conference in Moscow.

His colleague, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, added that the decision on whether or not to take the vaccine was not the astronauts’ own to make.

"The health of an astronaut is not only his personal health ... an astronaut is a person who fulfills a government task and his health is a priority. As soon as a vaccine is tested and proven to be reliable, then a decision will be made on the recommendation of vaccination for astronauts,” Kud-Sverchkov said.

The crew, which also includes US Astronaut Kathleen Rubins, is set to replace the current expedition on the ISS and remain in orbit until April 2021. According to NASA, the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle is set to break the speed record from the launch pad to the station at three hours and five minutes.

"In Sweden, the situation is comparatively more stable, but we also see signs that the number of infections is increasing in certain areas in our country," Lofven said. "That's worrying. It requires that we tighten our behavior."

"The situation can change once we drop our guard. A return to the restrictive measures, which were introduced this spring, would be a highly unwelcome scenario," Putin told Russian governors.

Russia has registered 6,595 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours (6,431 yesterday), which brings the cumulative total to 1,128,836, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Thursday.

"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 6,595 COVID-19 cases in 84 regions, of which 1,580 (24 percent) have been detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the response centre said in a statement, specifying that the cumulative toll has reached 1,128,836.

Of all the newly detected cases, 1,050 were confirmed in Moscow, 215 in St. Petersburg and 205 in the Moscow region. No new cases were recorded in the Chukotka Autonomous Region.

In the past 24 hours, Russia recorded 149 COVID-19 fatalities, bringing the death toll to 19,948, and 6,130 recoveries, taking the total to 929,829.

According to the national public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, over 43.9 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the pandemic, and 222,000 suspected carriers remain under medical monitoring.

"Every single person who downloads the app is helping to improve how it can keep us safe. It helps you to keep yourself and your loved ones safe," the health secretary said.

"Even if only two people downloaded it and they came into close contact and one had tested positive, then it would work for the other," he added.

"(At the peak), we estimate through surveys that over 100,000 people a day were catching disease, but we only found around 6,000 of them, and they tested positive. Now we estimate that it's under 10,000 people a day getting the disease. That's too high, but it's still much lower than in the peak," Hancock said.

India has confirmed 86,508 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours thus continuing to register the world's largest daily increase in the number of COCVID-19 patients, with the total number of those infected having reached 5,732,518, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

The death toll from the disease has reached 91,149 people, with 1,129 new fatalities recorded over the past day. More than 4.67 million people have recovered in India since the start of the epidemic.

India comes second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States with more than 6.93 million COVID-19 patients.

"Within the past several days, we have listened to experts who said that we would face great problems if no serious steps were taken. To save the lives of Israeli citizens, it is necessary to impose a strict two-week quarantine starting from Friday to the Sukkot holiday (late 9 October). After that, we will have two more weeks of the quarantine, hopefully, with softer restrictions. But I stress that will depend on the incidence rate," Netanyahu said on late Wednesday.

The statement was made after the meeting of the special governmental commission on fighting the coronavirus.