The United States is still the worst-hit nation, with over 32 million infected, while almost 572,000 Americans have lost their lives due to the virus. India, which is now suffering from a major spike in cases has the second-highest tally in the world with 17 million infected and 195,000 deaths. At the same time, Brazil has the second-highest death toll, with 391,000 fatalities and over 14.3 million cases.
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her counterparts from Australia, New Zealand and the UK in a teleconference discussed the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Affairs Office said in a statement.
"Today US Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen participated in a conference call hosted by Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg with finance ministers of the ‘Five Eyes Countries’ including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The ministers reviewed the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and each country’s medium-term fiscal approaches to support a strong and sustainable economic recovery," the readout said on Tuesday.
Yellen, the release added, also emphasized that by using all available policy tools their combined domestic economies can help support the global economy.
MONTEVIDEO (Sputnik) - Paraguay is negotiating production of Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V with private companies, a health ministry source has told Sputnik.
"It is currently at the level of discussions ... There were meetings between representatives of the foreign ministry and private companies," the source said, adding that it is premature to talk about dates.
The country is said to be ready to fill the vaccine into vials and package it but a complete transfer of technology will take at least four months.
The source mentioned Paraguay received Sputnik V shipments in February and April, with the next shipment being scheduled for May.
TORONTO (Sputnik) – The Canadian province of Quebec has recorded the country’s first death following immunization with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Premier Francois Legault said on Tuesday.
“We just had our first patient who has died of cerebral thrombosis following vaccination from AstraZeneca,” Legault told reporters. “To date, it is the first death that has been declared in Canada.”
The victim, a 54-year-old woman, received medical treatment but succumbed to the deadly side effect, the premier said.
Legault and the province’s chief medical officer, Horacio Arruda, said that the vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine is a calculated risk and stressed that the benefits of the UK drugmaker’s shot continue to outweigh the risks. The province will not be changing its immunization guidelines, despite the vaccine-induced fatality, Arruda said.
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he will roll out next week his administration's plan to get life in the United States closer to normal amid the novel coronavirus pandemic by Independence Day.
"Next week, I'll be laying out the path ahead to continue our fight against COVID-19 to get us to 4 July, that's our target date to get life in America closer to normal", Biden said during a press conference.
Biden noted that two-thirds of US seniors are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and said the number of cases and deaths have dramatically decreased.
The US president said some 215 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the United States since January 20 when he assumed office.
However, Biden said masks should still be worn during crowded outdoor events as well as indoors.
Fully vaccinated Americans can now engage in outdoor and small indoor gatherings without wearing a mask, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing on Tuesday.
"If you are fully vaccinated and want to attend a small outdoor gathering with people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated or dining at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households, the science shows, if you're vaccinated, you can do so safely unmasked", Walensky said. "Generally, for vaccinated people, outdoor activities without a mask are safe."
However, Walensky also said the CDC continues to recommend that people use masks in crowded outdoor settings and venues where there is decreased ability to maintain physical distance.
People who are masked and fully vaccinated can safely attend indoor worship services, go to an indoor dining venue, and even participate in an indoor exercise class, Walensky added.
At the same time, Walensky said the CDC recommendations have not changed for unvaccinated people.
The updated CDC guidelines also provided that fully vaccinated workers are no longer required to be restricted from work after being exposed as long as they do not have any symptoms while fully vaccinated people in general may be exempted from routine screening testing.
More than 230 million Americans have been vaccinated with at least one dose of the available vaccines and nearly 88 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
An indoor concert of Spanish indie band Love of Lesbian that took place in Barcelona in late March as part of a mass COVID-19 testing experiment has proved to be a success, as there has been no significant increase in cases, the researchers behind the experiment said on Tuesday.
The experiment involved 5,000 concert-goers who were given an express test for the antigen to the virus, had their temperature checked and were provided with FFP2 masks for the event. Despite the concert being held without social distancing, there was no virus outbreak after the concert.
"By going to that concert, people were safer than anywhere else in the city of Barcelona", Josep Maria Llibre, a researcher from the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, said at a press conference.
The medical expert added that within the next 14 days, six people tested positive for the coronavirus, with four of them definitely getting infected after the event. It is not known where the other two got infected.
"Everyone came to the concert in groups or pairs, but none of the six was infected from the people with them, that is why we do not think that the transmission took place during the concert. These are very good results", the researcher boasted.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, many countries have imposed a strict ban on public events, especially concerts, as the virus is known to spread through the air, and multiple people in close quarters are considered to be most vulnerable.
The United Kingdom does not have extra coronavirus vaccines to send to India, which is currently suffering from an acute spike of COVID-19 cases, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday.
"Right now, we are moving through the UK prioritization list for our domestic rollout and we don't have surplus doses", the spokesperson told journalists, as quoted by The Telegraph.
The spokesperson pointed out that the UK has promised to spread its surplus vaccines via the COVAX initiative, but stressed that this would be possible after the country's population is vaccinated.
India comes second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 17.6 million, following the United States with more than 32.1 million cases. The Indian COVID-19 toll has been increasing rapidly since mid-February, continually setting daily records in new cases.
Multiple countries, including, Russia, have pledged their support to the beleaguered Indian people, who are struggling to contain the spread of the disease.
The spread of the coronavirus in Russia has plateaued, but people must remain vigilant and follow heath recommendations, Melita Vujnovic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Russia, said on Tuesday.
"Even in Russia we have a plateau or a soft decrease, but not everywhere ... There are over 8,000 [COVID-19 cases] every day", Vujnovic told the broadcaster Rossiya 24.
The official added that the WHO agreed with the coronavirus recommendations by Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor.
"It is necessary to follow all the recommendations that are given by local health authorities and Rospotrebnadzor", Vujnovic stated.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Russia has confirmed a total of 4,779,425, with the latest increase of 8,053 being the lowest since late September.
"1. B.1.617 is a variant with E484Q and L452R mutations, first detected in India from samples collected on 1 December 2020 ... Preliminary studies show that both these mutations might be linked with stronger binding potential to the human ACE2 receptor. The L452R might impact the effectiveness of some monoclonal antibody treatments. The E484Q might also lead to antibody neutralisation where antibodies from past infections are not as efficient in protecting someone from a new infection", the WHO said.
"On Monday night, the President of the Republic of Iraq, Barham Salih received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine", his office wrote on a Telegram channel.
"Over the past day, 8,053 coronavirus cases were confirmed across 83 Russian regions, including 1,041 cases (12.9 percent) without clinical symptoms", the coronavirus response centre said, adding that the total case count had reached 4,779,425.
