Latest on the worldwide spread of coronavirus

Shafaq news/ So far, COVID-19 is affecting 215 countries and territories around the world, worldometers.com shows the latest update of countries and territories and their continental regional classification based on the United Nations Geoscheme.

Global coronavirus cases rose to 88,506,564 on Friday.

1,906,770 deaths and 63,614,848 recoveries were recorded according to the official website.

USA still rank the first 22,132,045 cases, and 374,124 deaths, meanwhile India is in the second place with 10,414,044 cases and 150,606 deaths.

EUROPE

·        Spain, France, Italy and UK registered the highest number of infections.

·        The United Kingdom said it would extend a ban on travellers from southern African countries entering England, and passengers arriving in the region would have to show a negative COVID-19 test from next week.

·        Italy’s medicines regulator said it has approved the use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine.

Americas

·        Four south-Americans countries are listed in the top 20 infected countries worldwide Brazil (3^rd place), Columbia (11^th), Argentina (12^th), Mexico (13th) and Peru (18^th).

·        Brazil has signed a deal with Sao Paulo’s Butantan Institute to buy the full output this year of a Chinese vaccine it is producing, as the country’s COVID-19 death toll crossed 200,000.

·        Argentina said it would restrict the nighttime movement of people and Colombia’s capital will impose strict quarantine measures until Tuesday.

ASIA-PACIFIC

·        China is in 82^nd place worldwide with 78,331 cases despite it was the center of the Covid-19 spread.

·        So far, Australia registered today 22 news cases according to worldometers.com

·        Australia will require travellers to test negative for COVID-19 before they can board a plane to the country, as the nation’s third-largest city headed into a three-day lockdown.

·        Japan will consider extending a state of emergency beyond the greater Tokyo region, while a Chinese study pegged the number of COVID-19 infections in Wuhan, where the novel virus was first identified, to be around three times the official figure.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

·        Iran still struggling despite the tied restrictions, recording 1,268,263 cases and 55,933 deaths.

·        Iraq ranks the 26^th worldwide registering 600,755 cases and 12,869 deaths.

Regarding the medical developments, Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, according to a lab study conducted by the U.S. drugmaker.

A coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech was 78% effective in a late-stage Brazilian trial with no severe cases.

France’s Sanofi is considering how it can help produce COVID-19 vaccines devised by other drug makers.