Travel restrictions have returned to numerous countries in Europe, Asia, and America, with mandatory mask-wearing and other pandemic measures being re-imposed. The restrictions have already resulted in mass protests in the UK, France, Germany, Israel, and other countries.
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BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) – The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has started talks with Bolivia on the deliveries of the Russian-made COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V to the Latin American nation, Ambassador to Bolivia Vladimir Sprinchan said.
“Today, the negotiations between the Russian Direct Investment Fund … and the Bolivian Health Ministry have started to study an opportunity to import the vaccine to Bolivia,” the diplomat said while presenting the Avifavir drug against COVID-19, whose deliveries to Bolivia have already started.
Sprinchan said that the Russian vaccine was safe, and more than 1 billion people would be vaccinated with it in 2020-2021.
The ambassador added that the RDIF was discussing the deliveries of Sputnik V to Bolivia for the mass vaccination, not clinical trials.
Russia registered its pioneer coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, in August. It is currently undergoing the third stage of clinical trials.
"We’re at a tipping point in this pandemic, not only is the second wave underway, yesterday we hit the highest daily recorded cases – well above what we saw this spring", Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
In its latest short-term projection, PHAC said it is anticipating up to additional 20,230 new cases and 243 virus related deaths in the next week.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr Theresa Tam told reporters the predicted number of cases could be in the range of 188,150 to 197,830 by 17 October.
"The predicted number of deaths could be in the range of 9,690 to 9,800 by 17 October", Tam said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the epidemiological situation in Germany with the mayors of Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart, Essen, Dortmund, Leipzig and Dusseldorf.
"Everyone agreed that we need additional measures with the dynamics of 35 [new COVID-19 cases a day] per 100,000 [people], but, more importantly, with the dynamics of 50 per 100,000 people for seven days in a row", Merkel said during a press conference after the meeting.
The White House is preparing a new $1.8 trillion COVID-19 relief offer, its largest proposal to date in the long-running negotiations with congressional Democrats, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to discuss the $1.8 proposal with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when the two meet later in the day, the report said.
"We would like the team ... begin work virtually and then deploy at the appropriate time. So we would like to see this international team establish virtually relationship with their counterparts to review the existing data, to review the phase 1 [probe] progress made by Chinese colleagues and then to plan and implement phase 2 and then to deploy to the field at the appropriate type. And I think all of those things are possible in the very near future and we look forward to concluding that process with Chinese colleagues very soon", Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO emergencies programme said.
He added that the agency shared lists of team members with the Chinese authorities for scientific collaboration.
"We're really really trying to connect the best Chinese scientists with a selection of the best international scientists so we can make progress on this investigation. This is not about WHO or the director general seeking the permission of China for the list of names. We share as a courtesy to a dialogue around the best team, not as a means of blocking or not blocking individuals or whatever", Ryan stressed.
He also noted that logistics are not a concern either, as the WHO is able to deploy teams within 24 hours.
"The issue is getting that agreement around the final shape of that team", the official explained.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday that next week would be decisive in the situation with the coronavirus spread, and if the restrictions are observed, there will be a chance to stabilize the situation without additional measures.
"Next week will be decisive in many ways. If we manage to ensure strict compliance with the current restrictions, then there will be a chance to stop the growth in the coronavirus incidence and stabilize the situation without additional, highly undesirable restrictive measures", Sobyanin said on his personal blog on Friday.
"Stringent regulatory authorities and WHO are requiring that the results of phase 3 clinical trials are the basis for an early use listing or an emergency use listing. That does not mean that the trial necessarily has to be completed as designed because each of the trials has interim looks at the data that are stipulated in the protocols that can allow an evaluation of the data once the data meets certain apriori established numbers of cases that would allow some kind of conclusion to be drawn, depending on the actual efficacy of the vaccine", Katherine O'Brien said at a briefing.
The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) laid out recommendations on the immunization of the population from the coronavirus and said that health workers and elderly people should be prioritised, Kate O’Brien, the director of the WHO Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, said.
According to O'Brien, the document prepared by the SAGE and due to be published later this year, laid out recommendations on stages of immunization depending on the epidemiological situation. The first stage should cover 10 percent of the population, the second stage - between 11 and 20 percent, and the third one should cover beyond 20 percent. The official noted that there is a possibility that at the early stage of vaccine rollouts countries may not be able to get enough doses to vaccinate 10 percent of their population.
"So SAGE tried to give a further steer on what would be the highest priority for the very first set of doses that arrive and then what would be the next priority within that stage one of phasing. The two highest priorities are to immunise both health care workers, who have high or very high risk of infection with COVID, and the second group is those adults who are older adults - we'll use the word 'elderly' here - to be defined by each country of what the age categorisation would be for those that are at the highest risk of serious illness and death", O'Brien said at a briefing.
The expert also said that other groups should be prioritised in further stages of immunisation, and countries should be able to make adjustments based on the epidemiological situation.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The owners of fitness centres have gathered in the French capital Paris to protest against the fresh restrictive measures implemented by the city's administration amid a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic across France, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Friday.
"A protest by gym bosses against the new sanitary measures is being held in #Paris”, the Sputnik correspondent wrote on Twitter, posting a video of demonstrators carrying posters saying "Do not touch my gym".
According to reserach by the Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI, 1 in 170 people in England had the virus between 18 September and 5 October, with 45,000 new infections each day.
"Our robust findings paint a concerning picture of the growing epidemic across England", Paul Elliott, of the Imperial's School of Public Health noted. "While certain areas are worse affected, if left unabated then infection trends will follow nationwide and could lead to high levels of unnecessary death and illness from the disease".
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow authorities discuss the possible closure of night clubs, bars and karaoke halls amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, a source in the city administration told Sputnik on Friday.
"This is at the stage of negotiations", the source said.
Earlier in the day, Russia registered a new single-day record increase of 12,126 COVID-19 cases. Moscow, with 3,701 new cases, accounted for the largest increase.
The 55-year-old wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, "came into contact with someone who has subsequently tested positive for COVID-19", according to Buckingham Palace. At the moment, she is not experiencing any coronavirus symptoms.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has not yet reached the peak of the second wave of COVID-19, Russian virology expert Anatoly Altstein told Sputnik on Friday, adding that the daily number of new infections may climb to 15,000.
"The [fall] season is more favourable for the development of such diseases. Therefore, I think that at the moment we are not yet at the peak. Most likely, it will increase even more. ... I think it will be somewhere around 15,000", Altstein said.
According to the virologist, it is extremely challenging to calculate an accurate forecast based on growth figures.
Earlier on Friday, the national coronavirus response centre said that Russia had registered 12,126 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, a new single-day record increase since 11 May. The country's cumulative total now stands at 1,272,238. The largest increase was identified in Moscow, where 3,701 new positive tests were registered.
YEREVAN (Sputnik) - Russia's partners from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should be among the first countries to receive the nation's vaccine against COVID-19, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Friday.
"We are already creating conditions for voluntary mass immunisation of our citizens at the end of the year. We believe that our partners from the EAEU should be among the first countries to receive the Russian vaccine after the start of mass immunisation in Russia", Mishustin told the EAEU Intergovernmental Council.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor) said on Friday that it had not received any reports about adverse reactions to the antiviral drug favipiravir, the possibility of which was previously reported by the information centre PharmaCOVID.
The information centre for the pharmacotherapy of COVID-19 patients has published a research paper claiming that favipiravir, which has produced positive results in a Phase 3 trial, may have a side effect causing movement disorders.
"According to the Pharmaconadzor 2.0 database of the automated information system of Roszdravnadzor, at the moment there have been no reports about the development of reactions associated with nonspecific motor disorders, including falls", a statement read.
The watchdog's press service added that drug manufacturers, as well as pharmacists and physicians, were obliged to inform Roszdravnadzor about any side effects and adverse reactions.
"Roszdravnadzor pays special attention to monitoring the safety of these medicinal products, and if there is a need to change the instructions for the medical use of these products, such changes will be made in accordance with current legislation", the watchdog noted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has registered 12,126 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, and this new single-day record increase (up from 11,493 yesterday) brings the cumulative case total to 1,272,238, the national coronavirus response centre said on Friday.
The country broke the previous record of 11,656 COVID-19 cases reported on 11 May.
"In the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 12,126 COVID-19 cases in 85 regions, of which 3,272 (27 percent) were detected with people showing no clinical symptoms", the response centre said in a statement, specifying that the total count has reached 1,272,238.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) – India has confirmed 70,496 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, thus continuing to register the world's largest daily increase in the number of COVID-19 patients, with the total number of those infected having reached 6,906,151, the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday.
The death toll from the disease has reached 106,490 people, with 964 new fatalities recorded over the past day. More than 5.9 million people have recovered in India since the start of the epidemic.
