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A divided world has failed to rise to the challenge of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday (October 17) and warned concerted action was needed to prevent millions of people being pushed into poverty and hunger. The former Portuguese prime minister said far more could have been done if countries had worked together to combat the disease, which has killed more than one million people. |
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* The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd have received renewed approval to conduct late-stage clinical trials in India of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, the sovereign wealth fund said on Saturday. * Pfizer Inc said it could file in late November for US authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing, suggesting that a vaccine could potentially be available in the country by the end of the year. * Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed energy markets and the implementation of agreements by the oil producers group known as OPEC+, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. * The risk that the second wave of the pandemic could derail the euro zone’s recovery from deep recession makes ultra-easy monetary policy all the more necessary, European Central Bank board member Fabio Panetta has told a Greek newspaper. * Italy has approved a new stimulus package in its 2021 budget to foster an economic rebound from the recession caused by the coronavirus crisis, a government statement said on Sunday after a late-night cabinet meeting. * Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered the biggest election victory for her centre-left Labour Party in half a century as voters rewarded her for a decisive response to COVID-19. Her “go hard, go early” approach has eliminated locally spread coronavirus in the nation. * Indonesia reported 4,105 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the total to 361,867, data from the country’s COVID-19 task force showed. The data added 80 new deaths, taking the total to 12,511. Both the number of cases and deaths in the Southeast Asian country are the highest in the region. * The Philippines’ health ministry on Sunday reported 2,379 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 50 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 356,618 cases and 6,652 deaths. It also said 14,941 more individuals had recovered from COVID-19, bringing total recoveries to 310,158. * Thailand reported three additional locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, a day after reporting its first local infections in more than a month. Before this week’s five cases, Thailand last reported a confirmed local transmission on Sept. 11. In total, Thailand has reported 3,686 cases of the virus and 59 deaths. * China reported 13 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Oct. 17, the same as a day earlier, the health commission said on Sunday. As of Saturday, mainland China had 85,672 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health authority said. The COVID-19 death toll stands at 4,634. * The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported 8,028,332 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 70,078 from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,001 to 217,918. * Brazil reported 24,062 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 461 deaths from the disease caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday. The South American country has now registered 5,224,362 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 153,675, according to ministry data, in the world’s most fatal outbreak outside the United States. * Russia on Sunday recorded 15,099 new coronavirus cases, pushing the national tally to 1,399,334, officials said. They also said 185 people had died in the previous 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 24,187, and that 1,070,576 people had recovered from the virus. * Mexico’s health ministry reported on Saturday an 5,447 more cases of the novel coronavirus and 355 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 847,108 and the death toll to 86,059. Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. * Australia’s state of Victoria, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, will see more freedom of movement as of Monday after months-long restrictions, but retailers and restaurants must wait longer, making some of the owners unhappy. After more than 100 days in a strict lockdown that allowed only for two hours of outdoor activity a day, the 5 million people living in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital, will be able to spend as much time exercising outdoors as they wish. * The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 5,587 to 361,974, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 10 to 9,777, the tally showed. * Israel’s budget for 2021 will likely be passed in February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. Israel’s economy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to contract in 2020 for the first time in nearly two decades, with unemployment now above 11%. * The defence ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh region said on Sunday it had recorded another 40 casualties among its military, pushing the military death toll to 673 since fighting with Azeri forces erupted on Sept. 27. The fighting has surged to its worst level since the 1990s, when some 30,000 people were killed. * Israel is due to send delegates to Bahrain on Sunday to formalise nascent relations and broaden Gulf cooperation that Washington has promoted as an anti-Iran bulwark and potential economic bonanza. * Britain has recorded 16,171 new cases of coronavirus within 24 hours, according to government data published on Saturday, compared with 15,650 the previous day. The infection rate has risen sharply in recent weeks, prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other regional leaders to introduce tighter restrictions and local lockdowns. * The Netherlands hit a new record for daily coronavirus cases, with more than 8,000 infections in the past 24 hours, data released on Saturday showed. The number of confirmed cases climbed 8,114, according to daily figures compiled by the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM). * Austria on Saturday reported 1,747 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, a new record but well below a tally reported by a newspaper earlier in the day. The daily count has this month repeatedly exceeded the peak of 1,050 reached in March during the first wave of infections. Tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported earlier on Saturday that 2,317 cases had been recorded in the past 24 hours. * Iran, the Middle Eastern country hardest-hit by the coronavirus, extended restrictions and closures in the capital Tehran into a third week on Saturday as its death toll rose above 30,000. Source: Nhan Dan Online |