BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
NEW YORK -- Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 750,000 on Thursday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
With the total COVID-19 cases around the world reaching 20,651,113, the death toll worldwide rose to 750,030 as of 8:27 a.m. (1227 GMT), the CSSE data showed.
- - - -
MOSCOW -- More than 20 countries are interested in getting Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday.
Russia maintains "the closest contact with the World Health Organization on the development and future use" of the vaccine, Zakharova told a news briefing.
- - - -
HELSINKI -- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Thursday recommended citizens to use face masks in confined spaces where a safe social distance is not possible to protect others.
Persons with symptoms of COVID-19 should avoid social contact and apply for a testing immediately, the THL added.
- - - -
ADDIS ABABA -- The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday revealed the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa surged to 1,073,788 as the death toll rose to 24,256.
The Africa CDC, a specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission, in its latest situation update issued on Thursday, said the number of COVID-19 cases across the African continent has risen from 1,064,546 on Wednesday to 1,073,788 as of Thursday.
- - - -
LONDON -- The British government announced Thursday that it has launched a new COVID-19 test and trace App, with trials taking place in parts of the country.
The NHS (National Health Service) Test and Trace App will start its trials from Thursday with residents on the Isle of Wight and NHS Volunteer Responders across England, followed shortly by residents in the London borough of Newham, according to the government.
- - - -
KATHMANDU -- Critical COVID-19 cases in Nepal are rising rapidly as the pandemic spread among the elderly and people with existing health conditions, Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said.
According to the ministry, the number of people held at intensive care units (ICUs) and those who were on ventilators reached 96 on Thursday, a sharp rise from just 22 on July 29.
- - - -
WINDHOEK -- Namibia reported a record number of five COVID-19 deaths, Health and Social Services Minister Kalumbi Shangula said on Thursday.
This brought the total number of deaths to 27.
- - - -
HANOI -- Vietnam reported 25 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 905, along with three more deaths from the disease, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
The ministry also confirmed that three more COVID-19 patients had died, bringing the death toll in the country to 20 as of Thursday, noting that all the three patients, aged from 52 to 87, had underlying medical conditions.
- - - -
TEHRAN -- Iran's COVID-19 cases rose to 336,324 on Thursday after an overnight registration of 2,625 new infections, official IRNA news agency reported.
At her daily briefing, Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said out of the new cases in the past 24 hours, 1,246 patients needed to be hospitalized.
- - - -
YEREVAN -- Armenia reported 229 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 41,023, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control.
Data from the center showed that 405 more patients have recovered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 33,897.
- - - -
BISHKEK -- Laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 are decreasing significantly in Kyrgyzstan, indicating a downward trend, the country's Deputy Health Minister Mademin Karataev told an online briefing on Thursday.
In line with a decrease in patients with COVID-19, the number of observations are decreasing and makeshift hospitals are being closed, and some hospitals have been resuming operations as formerly, said Karataev. Enditem
