COVID-19 Updates From Around The Globe Today

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. Here are the latest updates on the COVID-19 crisis from around the globe on Sunday.

Global COVID-19 cases top 4.6 mn: Johns Hopkins

The overall number of global coronavirus cases has increased to over 4.6 million, while the death toll has surpassed 311,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Sunday morning, the total number of cases stood at 4,634,068, while the death toll increased to 311,781, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US currently accounts for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 1,467,796 and 88,754, respectively.

In terms of cases, Russia has the second highest number of infections at 272,043, followed by the UK (241,461), Brazil (233,142), Spain (230,698), Italy (224,760), France (179,630), Germany (175,752), Turkey (148,067) and Iran (118,392), the CSSE figures showed.

Meanwhile, the UK accounted for the second highest COVID-19 deaths worldwide at 34,546.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (31,763), Spain (27,563), France (27,532), and Brazil (15,662).

Donald Trump says US reopening, 'vaccine or no vaccine'

US President Donald Trump says the US will reopen, "vaccine or no vaccine", as he announced an objective to deliver a coronavirus vaccine by year end.

He likened the vaccine project, dubbed "Operation Warp Speed", to the World War Two effort to produce the world's first nuclear weapons.

But Trump made clear that even without a vaccine, Americans must begin to return to their lives as normal, the BBC reported on Saturday.

Many experts doubt that a coronavirus vaccine can be developed within a year.

"I don't want people to think this is all dependent on a vaccine," he said. "Vaccine or no vaccine, we're back. And we're starting the process."

"In many cases they don't have vaccines and a virus or a flu comes and you fight through it," he added. "Other things have never had a vaccine and they go away," said Trump.

Canada approves first clinical trial for potential COVID-19 vaccine

The first Canadian clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine has been officially approved, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

At his press conference in Ottawa on Saturday, Trudeau said the Canadian Center for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University has been given the green light by Health Canada to begin clinical trials of the vaccine candidate, Xinhua news agency reported.

"If these vaccine trials are successful we could produce and distribute it here at home," Trudeau said. "Research and development take time, and must be done right, but this is encouraging news."

Trudeau said the National Research Council of Canada will work with the manufacturers of the potential vaccine so that it will be able to be manufactured domestically should the trials be successful.

As of Saturday afternoon, at least 75,770 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, with 5,677 deaths in the country.

Health Canada reportedly has authorized 33 clinical trials for supportive care or treatments for COVID-19 to date.

New single-day deaths from COVID-19 continue to drop in France

France had registered 96 new deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, fewer than the previous two 24-hour periods, while the balance of the coronavirus-related hospitalization remains negative, France's Health Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the 96 new single-day deaths were lower than 104 registered on Friday and 351 on Thursday. So far, 27,625 people have succumbed to the coronavirus-caused disease across France, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

Meanwhile, France is now the world's fourth worst-hit country in terms of human loss caused by COVID-19 after the United States, Britain and Italy.

Saudi Arabia's coronavirus cases exceed 50,000

Saudi Arabia's coronavirus cases reached 52,016, with the registration of 2,840 new infections, health authorities said.

The health ministry tweeted on its Twitter account on Saturday that ten more died from the coronavirus, raising the death toll to 302, and 1,797 individuals recovered, bringing the accumulated number of recoveries to 23,666, Xinhua news agency reported.

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, recently said that the coronavirus would reshape the global commercial shape, the Saudi Press Agency reported Friday.

He said that the virus outbreak would be followed by radical changes in various concepts of global trade.

(IANS)