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https://www.arabnews.com/node/1717891/world
MOSCOW: Russia has developed the first vaccine offering "sustainable immunity" against the coronavirus, President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday.
"This morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against the new coronavirus was registered" in Russia, he said during a televised video conference call with government ministers.
Putin emphasized that the vaccine underwent the necessary tests. He added that one of his two daughters has received a shot of the vaccine and is feeling well.
Russian authorities have said that medical workers, teachers and other risk groups will be the first to be inoculated.
Russia is the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine. Many scientists in the country and abroad have been skeptical, however, questioning the decision to register the vaccine before Phase 3 trials that normally last for months and involve thousands of people.
- Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said an intensified contact tracing to isolate positive cases was necessary to slow community transmission
- He dismissed the possibility of extending a two-week strict lockdown due to end on Aug. 18
MANILA: The Philippines on Tuesday reported 2,987 new coronavirus infections, taking its tally of confirmed cases to 139,538, the highest in Southeast Asia.
A health ministry bulletin also reported 19 more fatalities, bringing the country's death toll to 2,312.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said an intensified contact tracing to isolate positive cases was necessary to slow community transmission, as he dismissed the possibility of extending a two-week strict lockdown due to end on Aug. 18 in and around the capital Manila.
- The vaccine candidate, produced by Sinovac Biotech, is among just a few in the world to enter Phase 3 clinical trials
- The treatment, known as CoronaVac, is already being tested on 9,000 health workers in Brazil
JAKARTA: Indonesia on Tuesday launched human trials of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine with some 1,600 volunteers slated to take part in the six-month study.
The vaccine candidate, produced by Sinovac Biotech, is among just a few in the world to enter Phase 3 clinical trials, or large-scale testing on humans — the last step before regulatory approval.
The treatment, known as CoronaVac, is already being tested on 9,000 health workers in Brazil, the second-hardest-hit country in the coronavirus pandemic after the United States.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has been struggling to contain its mounting virus cases, with more than 127,000 confirmed infections and over 5,700 deaths.
But the true scale of the public health crisis is believed to be much bigger, given the Southeast Asian nation’s low testing rates.
The governor of Indonesia’s most populous province, West Java, was among 1,620 volunteers slated to take part in clinical testing, which was set to wrap up in February.
If the vaccine proves safe and effective, Indonesian officials said, there were plans to produce up to 250 million doses for the sprawling archipelago of nearly 270 million, although they gave few details of the tentative roll-out.
On Tuesday, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo toured a factory in Bandung city, operated by state-owned pharmaceutical firm Bio Farma, where production would begin.
“Once again I want to highlight that the COVID-19 threat will not end until all people in Indonesia are vaccinated,” Widodo said ahead of the tour.
- The official death toll rose to 15,131
MOSCOW: Russian registered 4,945 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, pushing its national case tally to 897,599, the fourth largest in the world.
The official death toll rose to 15,131 after authorities said in their daily coronavirus report that 130 people had died in the previous 24 hours.
- India has been posting an average of around 50,000 new cases a day since mid-June
NEW DELHI: India reported 53,601 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday as its total infections neared 2.3 million.
The Health Ministry also said 871 deaths were newly reported, raising total fatalities to 45,257.
India has been posting an average of around 50,000 new cases a day since mid-June.
Its total infections are third in the world, behind the United States and Brazil. The three countries account for half of the world’s 20 million cases. The true numbers around the world are thought to be much higher because of factors including low testing and the possibility the virus can be spread by people who don’t have symptoms.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, India’s top medical research body, said nearly 25 million samples have been tested.
Health experts, however, say the country needs to test more people given its big population. A country of 1.4 billion people, India has been conducting a little less than 18,000 tests per million population.
- Crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong has gathered pace since China imposed a sweeping security law on the financial hub
- That has caused alarm in Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory
TAIPEI: China is trying to turn democratic Taiwan into another Hong Kong, the island’s foreign minister warned Tuesday as he met with a senior US official making a historic diplomatic trip.
A crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong has gathered pace since China imposed a sweeping security law on the financial hub in June, with opposition politicians disqualified and activists arrested.
That has caused alarm in Taiwan, a self-ruled island of 23 million people that Beijing claims as its own territory and has vowed to one day seize, by force if necessary.
Foreign minister Joseph Wu said Taiwan lives under the constant threat of having its freedoms taken away by China, during a rare meeting with US cabinet official Alex Azar in Taipei on Tuesday.
“Our lives have become increasingly difficult as China continues to pressure Taiwan into accepting its political conditions, conditions that will turn Taiwan into the next Hong Kong,” he said.
“The people of Taiwan are all too familiar with dealing with threats, be it military, diplomatic or the threats of epidemics.”
Health Secretary Azar is in Taipei for a three-day visit billed as the highest-level visit from the United States since it switched diplomatic recognition from the island to China in 1979.
Beijing has ramped up diplomatic, military and economic pressure on Taiwan since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who won a second term earlier this year with a landslide.
She rejects Beijing’s stance that Taiwan is part of “one China” and instead views the island as “already independent.”
China has suggested Taiwan could be granted a version of the “one country, two systems” model it uses for Hong Kong, which supposedly guarantees certain liberties and autonomy from the authoritarian mainland.
All mainstream political parties in Taiwan have rejected the proposal.
And what little enthusiasm there was for the idea has all but evaporated as China cracks down on Hong Kong’s democracy movement.
Azar’s trip comes as relations between the US and China are in tumult, with the two sides clashing over a wide range of trade, military and security issues, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, Taiwan said China sent fighter jets over a de facto border separating the two rivals in the Taiwan Strait shortly before Azar met President Tsai.
During his visit Azar has heaped praise on Taiwan’s democracy and its success in battling the coronavirus.
He has previously criticized Beijing’s handling of the pandemic, which emerged in central China, and its authoritarian model of government.
Taiwan, which has fewer than 500 confirmed COVID-19 cases including seven deaths, has been able to contain the virus because of its democracy and transparency, Wu said.
“In contrast to an authoritarian model where the authority is too crippled to disclose fact, in the transparent Taiwan Model, we simply can’t afford to lie or conceal.”
China has also managed to get its outbreak largely under control, with sweeping lockdowns and travel restrictions.
In contrast, the United States has the highest death toll with more than 160,000 fatalities.
US President Donald Trump has been accused by critics of taking a harder stance toward China to distract from his coronavirus response as he seeks re-election in November.
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