A street cleaner hoses down a sidewalk in Malaga, Spain, on Saturday, August 29, 2020. (Samuel Aranda/The New York Times)

Coronavirus Global Updates: The Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected more than 210 countries and territories, has claimed 868,733 lives globally so far. Also, over 26.30 million people (26,304,856) are reported to have been infected by it out of which 17,512,585 have been treated and discharged as of now.

The highest toll and infections have been reported in the United States (6,150,016 cases and 186,790 deaths) followed by Brazil (4,041,638 cases and 124,614 deaths) and India (3,936,747 cases and 68,472 deaths).

Here are the coronavirus news from across the world

Drug maker gets money from Germany for vaccine

German pharmaceutical company CureVac says it is receiving a further 252 million euros (USD 298 million) to develop a coronavirus vaccine. The company says its request for additional funding has been approved by Germany’s Ministry for Education and Research, provided certain milestones are reached.

Germany’s state-owned KfW bank has already taken a 23% stake in CureVac for 300 million euros. The company launched an initial public offering of shares, but its main shareholder remains Dietmar Hopp, the co-founder of German software giant SAP.

CureVac is among a small number of companies that aim to develop a COVID-19 vaccine using mRNA technology that experts say could allow rapid inoculation on a larger scale than traditional forms of vaccination

Madrid struggles with Europe’s acutest 2nd wave of pandemic

The Madrid regional government is further restricting family reunions and social gatherings to curb a sharp spike in confirmed coronavirus cases as schools are set to re-open, although officials said Friday that new infections in and around the Spanish capital were being brought under control.

Authorities said an existing ban on outdoor meetings of more than 10 people is being extended indoors because most recent infections have been tied to gatherings in private homes.

Attendance at funerals, burials, weddings and religious celebrations, as well as group visits to museums or guided tourism will also be restricted starting Monday, authorities said. Nearly one-third of Spain’s new virus infections are in and around Madrid, a region of 6.6 million with high population density and a hub for economic activity for the rest of the country. (AP)

India to deploy 2 medical teams in DR Congo, S Sudan to help combat COVID-19

India, which is among the largest troop contributors to the UN peacekeeping, will deploy two medical teams in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan after a request by UN chief Antonio Guterres to scale-up health infrastructure in the areas managed by the Indian peacekeepers to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

India’s Permanent Mission to the UN said in a statement that the country responded to a request from UN Secretary-General Guterres and mobilised all efforts to assemble two teams of medical specialists to be deployed in hospitals at the UN missions in DR Congo and South Sudan. “This gesture has been welcomed,” the Indian mission said.

US unemployment rate falls to 8.4 per cent even as hiring slows

The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4 per cent from 10.2 per cent even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began. Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said, down from 1.7 million in July. The U.S. economy has recovered about half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.

Friday’s report added to evidence that nearly six months after the coronavirus paralysed the country, the economy is mounting only a fitful recovery. (AP)

Russian vaccine safe, induces antibody response in small human trials: Lancet Study

In this handout photo taken on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, and provided by Russian Direct Investment Fund, an employee shows a new vaccine at the Nikolai Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, Russia. (Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/ Russian Direct Investment Fund via AP)

The COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, approved by Russia last month, has been shown to elicit antibody response with no serious adverse events in small human trials, according to preliminary results published in The Lancet journal on Friday.

Results from early-phase non-randomised vaccine trials in a total of 76 people show that two formulations of the vaccine have a good safety profile detected over 42 days, and induce antibody responses in all participants within 21 days.

Secondary outcomes from the trial suggest the vaccines also produce a T cell response within 28 days, the researchers said. The findings are based on two small phase trials lasting 42 days — one studying a frozen formulation of the vaccine, and another involving a lyophilised (freeze-dried) formulation of the vaccine, they said. (PTI)

Not expecting widespread vaccinations until mid-2021, says WHO

A World Health Organisation spokesperson said Friday that it does not expect widespread vaccinations to be available worldwide until mid-2021, reported Reuters.

Frances closes 22 schools due to infections

France has closed 22 of its 62,000 schools since in-person classes resumed this week because of virus infections. Of those, 10 were on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where access to health care is poorer than on mainland France and the number of virus patients in hospitals has jumped in recent weeks.

Education Minister Jean-Blanquer told Europe-1 radio that overall, French schools have reported about 250 suspected virus cases per day since they started reopening Tuesday. Not all those cases turn out to be positive, but once a suspicion is reported, schools must follow an extensive government protocol that can include sending a whole class home for online learning or shutting the whole school.

Blanquer says the number of disruptions remains relatively low compared to the number of schools in France.

August jobs report likely to point to a still-slow recovery

The United States keeps regaining more of the jobs that vanished when the viral pandemic flattened the economy early this spring. Yet so deep were the layoffs that began in March that millions of Americans remain burdened by job losses that might prove permanent.

Economists have forecast that employers added 1.4 million jobs in August and that the unemployment rate fell from 10.2 per cent to 9.8 per cent, according to a survey by data provider FactSet. That rate would still be just below the peak unemployment level of the 2008-2009 Great Recession.

The Labor Department will issue the August jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday. While a monthly gain above 1 million would show that some businesses are still willing to add workers, it would take many months to return to pre-pandemic job levels even if that pace could be sustained.

And many economists think hiring is slowing. The economy still has roughly 13 million fewer jobs than it did when the coronavirus struck in March.

Aide: Berlusconi, with COVID, now in hospital as precaution

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has history of heart and other medical problems, was admitted to a Milan hospital early Friday as a precaution to monitor his coronavirus infection, a top aide said.

Sen. Lucia Ronzulli told RAI state TV Friday morning that the media mogul, 83, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week, was doing well. She said he was undergoing “precautionary monitoring” of his infection. “He passed the night well,” she said.

State radio later said Berlusconi was admitted to San Raffaele hospital, where his private doctor is based, shortly after midnight.

Sky TG24, reporting from outside the hospital, said Berlusconi had the “beginnings of pneumonia” and was given an oxygen mask to aid breathing. (AP)

Pfizer steps up the heat, says will know about effectiveness of its shot by October

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has said it would seek emergency use authorisation for its coronavirus vaccine from the US Food and Drug Administration, once it was established that the vaccine was indeed effective. The company said this could happen as early as the end of next month, and it intended to apply for emergency license immediately after that, according to a report in The New York Times.

Pfizer’s vaccine, being developed in collaboration with German partner BioNTech, is currently undergoing third and last stage of clinical trials. Its chief executive Albert Bourla said about 23,000 volunteers had been enrolled for the stage-3 trials, and many of them had been administered the second booster dose as well. He said the company would know “in October time frame” how effective the vaccine had been on the volunteers. He said if the effectiveness data was good, the company would immediately apply for emergency use authorisation.

Bolsonaro says COVID-19 vaccinations won’t be mandatory

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, who has consistently downplayed the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, reiterated on Thursday that COVID-19 vaccinations will not be obligatory when they become available.”Many people want the vaccine to be applied in a coercive way, but there is no law that provides for that,” Bolsonaro said in a Facebook live chat with his supporters.

UNICEF says drugmakers can produce unprecedented vaccine quantities for COVID-19

Unprecedented quantities of vaccines could be produced by 28 manufacturers in 10 countries over the next two years to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said on Thursday, as it announced it would help lead efforts to procure and distribute them.

UNICEF’s role is part of a COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan – known as COVAX and co-led by the World Health Organization -that aims to buy and provide equitable access to the shots. So far, 76 wealthy nations committed to joining the COVAX effort. UNICEF said the 28 vaccine manufacturers had shared their annual productions plans for COVID-19 vaccines through 2023.

New Zealand retains coronavirus measures until mid-Sept

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Friday retained the restrictions put in place to beat the spread of the coronavirus until at least mid-September, as the country reported a new death related to the virus. Auckland, the country’s largest city and the centre of a fresh outbreak, will remain on alert level 2.5, which limits gatherings to no more than 10 people.”The best economic response remains a strong health response. If we get it right we will ultimately shake off restrictions faster and lessen the risk of bouncing around,” Reuters quoted Ardern as saying.

A city health worker takes a rest during a COVID-19 test program that aims to administer 20 thousand tests in Rio de Janeiro’s poor neighborhoods, at Morro da Providencia favela, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday. (AP)

Election chiefs worry about uncertainty as voting nears

Political battles and pending court fights threaten to upend months of planning for the pandemic election, election officials are warning. In key states, they remain hamstrung with only weeks to prepare.

Ongoing partisan litigation could dictate dramatic last-minute changes to rules and procedures in several states. Legislatures continue debating laws that could change how votes are processed. Meanwhile, money to pay for counting 150 million or more votes during the pandemic is stalled in Congress. Time is short. Though Election Day is two months away, ballots are being mailed to voters on Friday in North Carolina. By the end of the month early voting will be underway in states like Minnesota, Virginia and Vermont.

Robert Pattinson tests positive for COVID-19, halting ‘The Batman’ production

British star Robert Pattinson has tested positive for COVID-19, pushing Warner Bros to suspend the UK shooting schedule of ?The Batman?. The studio’s spokesperson on Thursday said that filming on the Matt Reeves-directed movIe was ?temporarily paused? after a crew member tested positive for novel coronavirus.

In a statement obtained by Variety, the production company did not reveal the name of the individual who had tested positive. “A member of The Batman production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols. Filming is temporarily paused,? the spokesperson said in the statement. Vanity Fair was the first to report that Pattinson was the crew member who has contracted the virus.