The United States, India and Brazil lead in terms of the number of registered coronavirus infections, while the largest number of COVID-19-related deaths has been observed in the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, vaccination against the novel coronavirus has already begun in Russia, the UK, the US, and Canada.
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DOHA (Sputnik) - More than 100,000 people in Saudi Arabia have signed up for the coronavirus vaccination on the opening day of vaccination registration, the Saudi Health Ministry said.
"Up until now, 100,546 people have signed up through the application on... smartphones to receive the coronavirus vaccine," the ministry said in a statement.
TORONTO (Sputnik) - The Canadian province of Quebec will require the so-called "non-essential" businesses to close from December 25 through January 11 due a surge in new novel coronavirus cases, Premier Minister Francois Legault said in a news conference.
"Regarding non-essential retail businesses, they'll have to close from December 25 to January 11," Legault said on Tuesday.
Legault explained that grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, pet shops, including all Walmart and Costco stores, will remain open but will not be allowed to sell non-essential products.
In addition, Legault said office workers will be required to work from home from December 17 to January 11 except for jobs where attendance is necessary.
Secondary and primary schools will also close from December 17 to January 11, Legault added.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Vice President Mike Pence said he plans to receive a coronavirus vaccine in the coming days and he urged every American to encourage friends and neighbors to abandon any reluctance due to unfounded concerns over safety.
"I look forward in the days ahead to receiving the vaccine myself and doing so without hesitation. The American people can be confident that while we moved faster than the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] has ever moved, we have literally not compromised any standard of safety," Pence told a news conference flanked by officials overseeing the distribution of hundreds of millions of doses in the coming months.
Pence spoke as local officials throughout the US made a point of getting vaccinated on television to persuade Americans that fears over vaccine safety are unfounded.
"Be confident. We have cut red tape but we have cut no corners when it comes to the development of this vaccine, Pence said.
PRAGUE (Sputnik) - The president of the Czech parliament's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, Radek Vondracek, said he had contracted COVID-19 on Tuesday and was undergoing home treatment.
"I have always been [a] positive [person], and now I also have a document about this... [positive test result]. Fortunately, the coronavirus is passing calmly. Be careful!" Vondracek wrote on Twitter.
BERLIN (Sputnik) - The European Commission plans to secure an additional 100 million doses of the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine and a further 80 million doses of Moderna’s vaccines, German media reported Tuesday.
The EU’s executive arm, which acts on behalf of 27 member states, struck deals with six vaccine makers, including German biotech firm Biontech and US corporation Pfizer for 200 million doses, as well as US pharma giant Moderna for 80 million doses.
The Spiegel weekly cited EU sources as saying that a remarkably high demand for vaccines in Europe and uncertainty about the future of two other experimental anti-coronavirus drugs — by Sanofi-GSK and AstraZeneca — prompted the commission to consider reaching new agreements worth $3.8 billion euros.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Vaccine supplies for every American willing to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus should be available before the end of June, with governors in every US state able to launch general vaccination programs by late February or early March, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a news briefing on Tuesday.
"We expect to have enough supplies to vaccinate every American who wants it by the end of the second quarter of 2021. We believe we’ll have enough product to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of December. We believe we will have enough product to vaccinate a total of 50 million people by the end January combined. And we believe that we can have 100 million shots in arms between first and second doses by the end of February," Azar said.
Appearing at the same event, hosted by the vaccine manufacturer Catalent in the state of Indiana, Vice President Mike Pence characterized he anticipated buildup of vaccine supplies as the "beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic."
Azar said the United States has contracts guaranteeing the purchase of 900 million vaccine doses with options to buy up to 3 billion.
"We think it’s realistic that our nation’s governors could begin general vaccination programs in late February or early March," Azar added.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Several senior US administration officials will take the novel coronavirus vaccine publicly to instill confidence, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
"There will be some senior administration officials taking it publicly to instill that confidence," McEnany said.
McEnany added that the White House will reveal in the coming days which senior administration officials will take the vaccine publicly.
President Donald Trump is open to taking the novel coronavirus vaccine and will take it as soon as his medical team determines he should, McEnany said.
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland have agreed on a start date of a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the Italian Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The agreement was reached during a video conference of the countries' health ministers.
"We reaffirm the need to coordinate our efforts for safe, efficient and transparent use of the vaccine. During our meeting, we have defined some important aspects of the vaccination campaign that should be coordinated by the member countries, particularly at a trans-border level," the communique, published by the ministry, read.
According to the document, the participants of the conference have assumed the responsibility "to promote coordination of the vaccination campaign's start" and rapidly exchange the experience and information about their progress, particularly regarding pharmacovigilance and the awareness of border areas' residents.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 15,083,443 COVID-19 cases were registered in the EU/EEA and the UK as of December 14, with 375,147 deaths.
Italy is heading toward a grime milestone of 700,000 deaths by the end of this year, the highest mortality since World War Two, the director of the national statistics institute Istat said Tuesday.
"The year 2020 is not over yet but, by our prudent estimate, we will pass the 700,000 mark this year. It is concerning because the last time something like this happened was in 1944, in the midst of World War Two," Gian Carlo Blangiardo told the Rai3 channel.
The country recorded 647,000 deaths in 2019.
Italy emerged as Europe's first coronavirus hotspot in March and was the first country in the region to impose a nationwide lockdown. The country has so far reported 1.87 million cases and 65,857 virus-related deaths, the world's fifth-highest death tally.
The Danish authorities that previously introduced coronavirus-related restrictions in 69 municipalities, decided to extend them throughout the country starting December 16, Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht said on Tuesday.
"The situation has become serious. The coronavirus is spreading in Denmark. The number of those infected is too high, and the number of hospitalizations is growing. Therefore, we are expanding the partial lockdown nationwide. This means that this also applies to South Jutland," Engelbrecht said on Twitter.
The minister noted that the restrictions will take effect on 4 p.m. local time (15:00 GMT).
"Cultural institutions will be closed. This applies to restaurants, cafes and bars, with the exception of takeaway services. Employers are encouraged to send as many employees as possible home to work," the minister added.
Denmark has so far confirmed over 113,000 cases of COVID-19 and 950 fatalities.
One in two UK citizens consider the government's coronavirus-related restrictions for the Christmas period not strict enough, while the share of those who look forward to the holidays has decreased over the decade, a fresh poll by Ipsos MORI’s Political Monitor showed on Tuesday.
According to findings, 49 percent of UK citizens think the Christmas-time COVID-19 restrictions are not strict enough, while 39 percent think they are just about right and only 10 percent think they are too strict, with 2 percent of respondents saying they did not know.
Among those who want stricter restrictions, there are more Labour Party supporters (56 percent) than Conservative supporters (41 percent), as well as more senior citizens aged 55 and older (54 percent).
The share of people who look forward to the Christmas holidays has decreased to 70 percent from 81 percent in 2000 and 81 percent in 2014, while the share of those who said they were not looking forward to Christmas has increased to 27 percent from 17 percent both in the beginning and middle of the decade.
Asked how worried they were about the Christmas season expenses, 66 percent of respondents said they were worried and 31 percent said they were not. This is not much different from 2014, when 32 percent were worried and 66 were not, but fewer compared to 200, when 40 percent were worried and 58 percent were not, according to the pollster.
The poll enrolled 1,027 adult respondents surveyed over the phone from December 4-10.
Transportation workers, especially airline employees, need to move higher on the priority list for coronavirus vaccinations due to their role in shipping supplies of the preventive inoculations throughout the world, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a press release on Tuesday.
“We are not asking for aviation workers to be on top of the list, but we need governments to ensure that transportation workers are considered as essential when vaccine roll-out plans are developed,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said in the release.
Initial vaccine rollout plans in the United States and other nations focus on high-risk healthcare workers, such as those treating patients infected with the coronavirus, followed by elderly residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
The IATA estimates that the equivalent of 8,000 Bowing 747 freighter aircraft will be needed to distribute hundreds of millions of vaccine doses worldwide.
By vaccinating airline and other transportation workers, authorities can ensure a functioning logistics chain, de Juniac said.
Forty-nine percent Spaniards deem 2020 the worst year ever, according to an Opinium Research poll for online marketplace company Groupon.
Despite this, 84 percent of respondents are going to celebrate Christmas. For 71 percent, this is the best way to get positive emotions and leave problems of 2020 behind.
Eighty percent believe that this difficult year, marred by the deadly coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns, has helped them more appreciate their friends and family. Hence, 61 percent intend to find the "best Christmas gift" for their loved ones.
Half of Spanish respondents want to support small businesses amid the pandemic crisis and will buy Christmas gifts in such stores. This share in Spain is bigger than in other European countries, including Germany (22 percent), France (29 percent), Italy (31 percent), and the United Kingdom (36 percent).
Forty-six percent of Spaniards said that they would have to abandon traditional Christmas dinner with many guests and would instead talk with their loved ones online. Thirty-eight percent still plan that their family will gather around the table.
A total of 75 percent of parents are not planning in-person meetings with Santa Claus, and 41 percent will organize a videoconference with him.
The survey was conducted from November 19-25 among 12,005 Europeans, including 2,000 Spaniards.
The novel coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures have resulted in an estimated 81 million jobs being lost in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020, a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Tuesday.
"The report estimates a resulting jobs gap in 2020 at the regional level of 81 million as a result of the crisis, distributed as 32 million jobs for women and 49 million jobs for men," the report said.
The report found that overall working hours in the Asia-Pacific region have decreased by 15.2 percent in the second quarter of 2020 and by 10.7 percent in the third quarter compared to pre-crisis levels.
In addition, an additional 22 million to 25.4 million people could be added to the number of working poor, living on less than $1.90 a day, bringing the working poor total to an estimated 94-98 million in the region, the report said.
The ILO estimates that overall labour income has fallen by up to 10 percent in the Asia-Pacific region in the first three quarters of 2020, which is equivalent to a three percent loss in gross domestic product.
Howard University Hospital, a premier healthcare facility for Washington, DC’s African-American community, hosted a televised COVID-19 vaccine event for its workers on Tuesday, with hospital CEO Anita Jenkins being first in line to demonstrate the vaccine’s safety.
"There’s the historical perspective of everything from the Tuskegee experiments to experiments on women in the Black community," Jenkins said, referring to hundreds of black men were who were secretly infected in a study of untreated syphilis beginning in the 1930s.
Jenkins reference to experiments on Black women likely referred to involuntary sterilizations, also dating back to the 1930s and - like the Tuskegee experiments - which continued at least into the 1960s.
"I believe in science. We are seeing people die every day in our hospitals. We watch them suffer. We have seen families and employees experience such death with COVID so I am excited and hopeful that this is a successful vaccine," Jenkins said.
Shipments of the first COVID-19 vaccine approved by US regulators began arriving at hospitals throughout the United States over the weekend, with healthcare officials trying to confront fears that the vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech are unsafe.
Polls indicate that safety concerns have made a significant number of Americans reluctant to get vaccinated, at least initially, amid reports of more than twenty serious side effects during clinical trials.
The vaccine requires a booster shot 21 days after the initial inoculation. Jenkins said it remains unknown whether people will require annual vaccinations as with flu shots.
Russian Federal Biomedical Agency (FMBA), together with the Pirogov University, developed a diagnostic method for determining cell immunity to coronavirus, the FMBA said.
"Russia's FMBA together with the Russian Health Ministry's Pirogov University developed a unique diagnostic method for determining the repertoire of T-cell receptors specific for SARS-CoV-2, based on targeted sequencing of the next generation of human DNA," the statement says.
An analysis of the presence of antibodies to coronavirus and cellular immunity showed that the vast majority of people with antibodies have cellular immunity, the FMBA said.
"It should be noted that about 30 percent of those who have recovered from the disease and who do not have specific G-class immunoglobulins also have SARS-CoV-2-specific clones of T-cells. In individuals who have not had COVID-19 and do not have humoral immune response to this infection, in a number cases, SARS-CoV-2 specific clonotypes of T-cells are observed, which suggests the presence of preexisting T-cell immunity due to seasonal coronaviruses or other ARVI pathogens," the FMBA said.
Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has cancelled his official visit to Italy after one of the delegation members, the minister of economy and finance, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the head of Mechichi’s office, Muizz ad-Din al-Muqaddam, said on Tuesday,
The Tunisian government delegation led by the prime minister paid an official visit to France on Monday and was scheduled to arrive in Italy the following day.
"Minister of Economy, Finance and Investment Support Ali Kooli was diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to the test results carried out in Paris. The results of other delegation members are negative," al-Muqaddam said, as quoted by Tunisia’s state TV.
The prime minister is expected to come back to Tunisia on Tuesday.
As of today, Tunisia's health ministry has confirmed 111,758 COVID-19 cases, with 3,915 deaths and more than 84,700 recoveries.
Poland will establish a fund to provide compensations for adverse effects caused by the COVID-19 vaccination, the head of the Polish Prime Minister's Chancellery, Michal Dworczyk said on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the government has approved the national vaccination program.
"The compensation fund for the people who face adverse effects. We have set this decision out in our strategy," Dworczyk said, adding that the program contained information about "the purchased vaccines, logistics, organization of vaccination stations, appointments for inoculations."
According to Morawiecki, Poland will launch the COVID-19 vaccination in January.
"Today we can already say that we are joining the countries that will get down to the vaccination in January," Morawiecki said.
On December 8, Morawiecki said that Poland had ordered over 60 million doses of vaccines developed by six leading companies, including Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
According to John Hopkins University, the Czech Republic has confirmed 4,896 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections reaching 1,140,572.
Norwegian authorities have decided to extend the restrictive measures that have been in place in the country due to coronavirus pandemic until mid-January to avoid a spike in contagion, Health Minister Bent Hoie said at a televised press conference on Tuesday.
"We see that the outlined decline in the number of cases has slowed down, we want to ensure that quarantine rules will be respected after Christmas, that why we are keeping national measures in place until the second half of January," Hoie said.
According to the minister, despite the fact that the situation with COVID-19 in Norway is difficult, but not critical, neighboring countries are facing more and more troubles in their attempts to contain the epidemic, and thus the Norwegian authorities must to do everything possible to avoid a negative scenario.
The Norwegian authorities previously recommended the citizens to celebrate Christmas in a narrow circle of loved ones, inviting up to 10 guests twice during the holidays. It was also reported that the Norwegian authorities had introduced a number of restrictions. Big cities closed sports centers and cinemas, banned alcohol sales in public catering places, while mass gatherings and cultural and sports events were also suspended.
Norway expects to receive at least 500,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine in early 2021.
Germany has secured 48.6 million doses of the US-made Moderna vaccine against coronavirus, Health Minister Jens Spahn announced Tuesday.
"We have secured 48.6 million doses from the 180 million doses earmarked for the European Union," the minister said during a coronavirus news conference.
He did not rule out that the EU could give the green light to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on December 23. If that is the case, he said, vaccination could begin in a matter of days.
Moderna is next in line for EU approval. Spahn defended the drawn-out process of vaccine rollout, saying experimental drugs would not be given emergency authorization to "create trust" in them.
Germany has been struggling to contain the second wave of infections. It reported 14,432 new cases and 500 virus-related deaths on Tuesday, taking the total infection tally past 1.35 million and deaths to 22,475.
Another great #SputnikV moment. @TheOliverStone, who was in Russia to film a documentary on climate change, has become the first Oscar winner to get vaccinated with Sputnik V. V is for Victory. pic.twitter.com/1oOLZ6n3Hh
— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) December 15, 2020
The leader of the UK's Labour Party, Keir Starmer, on Tuesday, urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to hold a meeting of the Civil Contingencies Committee (COBRA) to figure out whether or not the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions during the Christmas period is warranted.
Earlier in the month, the government decided to ease its restrictions for December 23-27, allowing people from up to three different households to gather indoors to celebrate Christmas.
The Government has lost control of infections, putting our economy and our NHS at grave risk.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) December 15, 2020
The Prime Minister must convene COBRA to review whether the planned relaxation of restrictions is appropriate.
The priority must be to allow people to celebrate Christmas safely. pic.twitter.com/AZxKWXTosP
The United Kingdom has confirmed a total of over 1.8 million deaths, including 64,402 deaths.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Tuesday it would convene a meeting of its human medicines committee (CHMP) on December 21 to review the data on Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus and hoped to have the evaluation ready as soon as possible.
"Following receipt yesterday evening of additional data requested by the CHMP from the company and pending the outcome of its evaluation, an exceptional meeting of the CHMP has now been scheduled for 21 December to conclude if possible. The meeting planned for 29 December will be maintained if needed," the EMA said in a press release.
The watchdog said it wanted to "conclude its assessment at the earliest possible timepoint" but only when it could ascertain that the vaccine was sufficiently safe and effective.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the news of the meeting being rescheduled to an earlier date.
Every day counts - we work at full speed to authorise #COVID19 vaccines that are safe & effective.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 15, 2020
I welcome @EMA_News bringing forward its meeting to discuss the @pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, before Christmas.
Likely that the first Europeans will be vaccinated before end 2020!
Last week, von der Leyen said she was expecting Pfizer vaccine to be authorized by the end of the year and Moderna vaccine to be reviewed by mid-January.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that Germany and other EU member states could start vaccination several days after the regulator's approval.
The Estonian government approved on Tuesday the coronavirus vaccination program, which will be voluntary and free of charge during 2021.
"In today’s cabinet meeting, the Government approved the COVID-19 vaccination plan, prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs, pursuant to which, vaccination is firstly enabled for people ensuring the continuity of healthcare and social welfare services, and other risk groups," the cabinet said in a press release.
According to the vaccination program, the first to get COVID-19 vaccines will be around 30,000 healthcare workers, 25,000 employees and residents of nursing homes, 260,000 people over the age of 70 years, and people with a dangerous health condition (diabetes, obesity, chronic bronchitis, oncology patients, kidney failure and others). Vaccination will be voluntary and free during 2021.
Estonia expects to receive a little over 2.1 million doses of vaccines from the following manufacturers: AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Jannsen Pharmaceutica NV, however, the republic is negotiating with other manufacturers as well.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Tuesday spoke with the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, about the joint response to the COVID-19 pandemic and listed a number of related restrictions adopted by both states, including a call for their populations to refrain from travel to both countries.
The Belgian prime minister stated that both states were being challenged by the COVID-19 virus and were determined to curb it.
"Dutch government and @MinPres [Prime Minister of the Netherlands] strongly advise crossing the border," De Croo tweeted.
He added that both nations have also ordered for the maximum limitation of contacts between their citizens to "glimpse better days afterwards."
De Croo also specified that Belgians were forbidden from "leisure shopping," with 30 minutes per day allowed for one person to make purchases.
Two leading UK medical journals urged the UK government on Tuesday to abandon its plan to allow household mixing over Christmas, warning that the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions would result in an increase in the number of coronavirus cases and the National Health Service being overwhelmed by the new year.
“Rather than lifting restrictions over Christmas as currently planned, the UK should follow the more cautious examples of Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands,” the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal said in the second joint editorial they published in more than 100 years.
The influential health publications said they are publishing the rare joint editorial “because we believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives.”
The UK government announced on Monday that from Wednesday, London and other southeast cities will join other parts of England under the highest level in the alert system being implemented to try to stop the spreading of the virus.
Under Tier 3 level, bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants will close, except for takeaway food, members of the different household cannot meet indoor, and the public will be banned from sports venues, although schools and shops will remain open.
The editorial warned that many people will see the lifting of the restrictions over Christmas as permission to drop their guard, so they said the government “should now reverse its rash decision to allow household mixing and instead extend the tiers over the five day Christmas period.”
The government has no plans so far to reverse the decision that will allow people from up to three different households to gather indoors from December 23-27 to celebrate Christmas.
As of Monday, the UK has recorded 64,402 COVID-19-related deaths and 1,869,666 positive cases for the coronavirus.
The first 9,700 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, developed by US Pfizer and the German BioNTech, might arrive to the Czech Republic on December 28, Czech Health Minister Jan Blatny said on Tuesday.
"There is information that the European Medicines Agency intends to approve the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech on December 21, and in about 3-4 working days, it will be available to us. Taking holidays into account, we can conclude that on December 28 the first 9,750 doses might already arrive in the Czech Republic," Blatny said.
Blatny said that according to the vaccination plan, the first to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 would be chronically ill patients, people over 65, and health workers who directly work with COVID-19 patients.
According to the minister, it is planned to vaccinate about 1.1 million people in the first quarter of 2021, adding that in general, the procedure will stretch over the entire 2021.
The country has reached agreements with several vaccine producers — AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Sanofi — under which, it will be able to procure vaccines' doses for up to 16 million people, which is more than the Czech population.
To date, the Czech Republic has confirmed 581,079 COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of 9,609, according to the World Health Organization.
All Russia's regions have started vaccinating citizens against COVID-19, as the vaccine has been distributed, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Tuesday.
"The vaccine has been delivered to all the regions across the Russian Federation, vaccination has started in all regions," Murashko told the Russian government's coronavirus response center.
An extra procedure has been established to ensure safe transportation and storage of the vaccine, with special memos for both patients and doctors, the minister added.
The Indian Health Ministry on Tuesday said that it cannot deny chances of an adverse event after vaccination for COVID-19. the ministry has also urged all the states and union territories to prepare for these as part of the vaccination programme.
Norway will receive about half a million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in the first quarter of next year under a purchase agreement with Sweden, Richard Bergstrom, a Swedish national vaccination coordinator, said on Tuesday.
"The total volume is 2.5 million doses. There is no clarity on the delivery scheme yet, but at least 500,000 doses from Pfizer will arrive in the first quarter," Bergstrom said, as cited by the Norwegian VG newspaper.
According to the newspaper, Norway signed two agreements to purchase the vaccine through Sweden, which will buy the vaccines as an EU member and then sell them to Norway.
Under an agreement between Norway and the EU, the kingdom must receive at least 1 percent of each manufacturer's vaccine. The approval of the Pfizer vaccine might be reviewed by the European Medicines Agency on 29 December.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) organization should be ready to finance mass COVID-19 vaccination in the member states, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said.
"The ALBA should guarantee through the ALBA bank the financing of the member countries," Maduro said at the 18th ALBA Summit on Monday.
During his speech, the Venezuelan president also emphasized the progress of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and mentioned Cuba's progress in developing four domestic vaccines against COVID-19.
"There is a Russian Sputnik V vaccine, we are doing trials in Venezuela and they are going very well. Today Sputnik V has announced that its vaccine achieved 91 percent efficacy and 100 percent in severe cases," Maduro added.
On Saturday, the president's son Nicolas Maduro Guerra received the first dose of Sputnik V against COVID-19 as part of the third phase clinical trials underway in Venezuela.
According to the Venezuelan government, 2,000 volunteers take part in the trials. The country expects to start mass vaccination in April 2021.
The Saudi Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced the start of registration for all citizens and foreign residents for a COVID-19 vaccination via the kingdom-developed app, according to the state-run SPA news agency.
The ministry affirmed the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine after successfully passing clinical trials. All participants can receive the vaccine free of charge, according to the health authorities.
The top health body said that the vaccination would take place in three stages, with each of them targeting specific groups of people.
The first stage focuses on citizens and residents over 65 years old, people who are vulnerable due to their occupation, and those who have immune deficiency, or two or more chronic diseases.
The second phase targets people who are over 50 years old, as well as the rest of medical specialists and those who have one chronic disease, while the third all citizens and residents who want to receive the vaccine.
On 10 December, Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority announced the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
More than 76,000 people in Japan have lost their jobs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media reported on Monday, citing Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
According to the Kyodo news agency, 76,500 people were left without jobs due to the COVID-19. Most of all - 15,000 people - lost their jobs in the production field; 10,000 people - in public catering, and the same number in retail; another 9,000 people lost their jobs in the hotel business.
The Japanese economy was hit unprecedentedly by the restrictive COVID-19 measures, shrinking an annualized 29.2 percent in the April-June quarter, a record contraction in the country's modern history. While the economy has seen a rebound in the third quarter, the growth is not expected to return to the pre-pandemic levels until 2022.
Earlier in December, Japan approved new economic stimulus measures, including a package worth 73.6 trillion yen (over $707 billion) aimed at supporting the economy amid the pandemic.
Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V will be tested on pregnant women after trials involving children are completed, while children may take part in the trials after all tests involving adult volunteers are finished, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya research center behind the vaccine, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"Trials for pregnant women will be launched after [trials for] children, and trials for children may be conducted after all trials for adults are completed," Gintsburg said.
While post-registration clinical trials of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 are set to be completed in May under the protocol, data on its efficacy may be available already in January, Alexander Gintsburg said.
"Under the protocol, [efficacy data will be available] in May, as six-months-long monitoring is needed after vaccination of the last volunteers. As for results described in the report, which we will submit after vaccination without these six months of monitoring, this may be available even in January," Gintsburg added.
A spokesman for the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is in charge of Sputnik V vaccine promotion and production abroad, refuted, in his comment for Sputnik, media reports claiming that North Korea was purchasing the Russian vaccine.
"North Korea's representatives have never been in contact with the fund on purchasing the Sputnik V vaccine and have not signed any contract," the spokesman said.
Authorities in Egypt have reported more than 500 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the first such tally since July, Khaled Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Health, said on Monday.
"511 new positive coronavirus tests were recorded. The [carriers] were detected by tracking those who had previously been in contact with infected patients. Over the past 24 hours, 23 people died from the disease," Mujahid said in a statement, received by Sputnik.
The last time the daily count of newly registered coronavirus cases exceeded 500 was on July 25, after which the indicators began to decline.
To date, Egypt has confirmed 121,575 COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of 6,920, according to the World Health Organization.
The Russian capital of Moscow in collaboration with Lomonosov Moscow State University has developed an AI-based technology for diagnosing the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia by analyzing blood samples, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday.
In his personal blog, the mayor said that Moscow doctors have cured over 500,000 COVID-19 patients, resulting in a massive amount of data on the disease. Those include computer tomography (CT) scans of lungs.
"Together with Lomonosov Moscow State University, we have developed the so-called CT-calculator - a neural network to analyze the level of damage to lungs. To do that we matched blood tests, [oxygen] saturation data, overall clinical findings for patients diagnosed with COVID pneumonia with those patents' CT results ... as the CT-calculator is based on AI-technology it will constantly 'learn' and perfect itself as it amasses new data," Sobyanin wrote.
The mayor added that the network would assist doctors in predicting probabilities for light, average, or severe development of the disease and make a decision on further treatment. The calculator is already embedded in the city's Integrated Medical Information and Analytical System and it will be open for doctors from other regions as well, according to the mayor.
Russia has confirmed a total of over 2.6 million COVID-19 patients, 698,084 of them in Moscow.
Russia has registered 26,689 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from 27,328 the day before, bringing the total to 2,707,945, the federal response centre said on Tuesday.
"Over the past day, 26,689 coronavirus cases were confirmed in 85 regions, including 5,181 cases (19.4 percent) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, adding that the cumulative case count has now reached 2,707,945, with the rate of increase at 1 percent.
Moscow has confirmed 5,418 new coronavirus cases over the given period, down from 5,874 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by St. Petersburg with 3,765 cases, down from 3,771 the day before, and the Moscow region with 1,392 new cases, down from 1,484 the day before.
The response centre reported 577 coronavirus fatalities, up from 450 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 47,968.
Total recoveries count 2,149,610 after 24,813 more people were discharged from hospitals over the past day, up from 18,562 the day before.
A total of 1,316 adult volunteers aged over 18 and 122 volunteers aged over 60 have received the first component of Russia's EpiVacCorona vaccine against COVID-19 in the post-registration trials, and all of them feel fine, the Russian public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Tuesday.
"In the post-registration clinical placebo-controlled trials of the EpiVacCorona vaccine by Rospotrebnadzor's scientific research center Vector, 1,316 volunteers aged over 18 and 122 volunteers participating in the post-registration clinical trials on people aged over 60 have received an injection of the first dose of the vaccine. All the volunteers feel fine, no undesirable effects have been registered," Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has told his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi , that Ankara will purchase the Chinese vaccine against the coronavirus disease as it considers it to be effective and safe, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
The foreign ministers held a phone conversation on Monday. A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Sputnik earlier that they had discussed the fight against the COVID-19 and cooperation on vaccines.
"Cavusoglu said that the Turkish side considers the Chinese vaccine safe and effective, had already announced that it would make an expedite purchase from China, and is ready to strengthen cooperation with Beijing in the matter," the ministry said in a statement.
The Turkish official also congratulated China on successfully containing the pandemic and praised Beijing's achievements in the vaccine development. Wang, on his part, noted that both countries are fighting the pandemic "side by side," supplying medical goods to each other and sharing experience as well as cooperating in Phase 3 vaccine trials.
"As of now, the second wave of the pandemic is spreading across the globe, the Chinese side is ready to stay firm alongside the Turkish people until the final victory in the war against the epidemic," the Chinese minister emphasized, adding that the decision to purchase the Chinese vaccine has demonstrated Turkey's trust in China.
Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac started developing its vaccine, named CoronaVac, back in January immediately after the outbreak of then-unknown pneumonia disease, later named COVID-19, had been officially confirmed in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The vaccine has been approved for Phase 3 clinical trials in Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and Chile.
