As world cases top 20m, Russia says it is first to approve a COVID-19 vaccine

GENEVA－The coronavirus pandemic chalked up another milestone on Monday as the world surpassed 20 million recorded cases from the tiny killer that has upended life just about everywhere.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting that his country had registered the world's first vaccine against the virus.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the vaccine issued in Russia is the first in the world, while other countries are conducting clinical studies of vaccines under development.

Murashko said that the new vaccine, after passing all necessary checks, showed that it forms a stable immunity.

Putin said he hoped that the mass production of the vaccine registered in Russia should begin in the near future, and vaccination will be available to everyone in the country voluntarily.

"The main thing, of course, is that in the future we can ensure the unconditional safety of this vaccine and its effectiveness," Putin said, congratulating everyone who worked on the drug. Putin said one of his daughters had been vaccinated and was feeling well afterward.

The number of global infections has doubled in less than two months as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.

In yet another staggering landmark, the death toll is expected to surpass 750,000 in a matter of days as the global health crisis that began late last year shows no sign of ending.

Facing the grim milestone, the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently urged world leaders to "choose the path of cooperation and act now to end this pandemic".

"It's not just the smart choice, it's the right choice and it's the only choice we have," he said.

He gave examples of countries that had successfully clamped down on COVID-19, such as Rwanda and New Zealand, which said on Monday it plans to open a virus-free "travel bubble" with the Cook Islands.

"I want to be clear: There are green shoots of hope," Tedros said, adding it is "never too late to turn the outbreak around".

Along with the global milestone, the coronavirus case count in the United States has crossed the 5-million mark, double the number since the end of June, though it boasts the greatest economic strength and one of the most advanced medical systems in the world.

With more than 163,000 COVID-19 deaths, the virus has now become the leading cause of death in the US, killing more people per day than cancer or heart disease, according to a graph published in Newsweek in April.

It is also reported that the US government is considering a measure to block US citizens and permanent residents from returning home if they are suspected of being infected with the coronavirus.

Grave circumstances

Meanwhile, the pandemic is also grave in other regions around the world. Brazil has registered more than 3 million confirmed cases and 100,000 deaths on Saturday.

India now is the third country in the world to cross the 2-million mark. At the rate India is growing right now, it seems poised to overtake Brazil in about a month, said a report published in English daily The Indian Express.

Indonesia reported 1,693 new cases on Tuesday, taking the country's total tally of infections to 128,776, the health ministry said.

In Africa, the death toll due to illnesses related to the pandemic rose to 23,253 and the total number of infections across the continent has risen to 1,047,218 as of Monday, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

South Africa alone accounted for around half of the continent's total cases of 559,858, with more than 10,000 deaths.

In Ethiopia, an East African country with 23,591 cases, Heath Minister Lia Tadesse on Monday commended Chinese tech firm ByteDance for donating medical supplies.

Xinhua - Agencies