BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health reported on Friday 4,336 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 688,698.

The new cases included 1,434 in the capital Baghdad, 756 in Basra, 508 in Najaf, 293 in Karbala, and 253 in Babil, the ministry said in a statement.

- - - -

LA PAZ -- Bolivia on Thursday launched the largest immunization campaign in its history in the eastern city of Santa Cruz to inoculate residents with COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm.

Bolivian President Luis Arce inaugurated the campaign, accompanied by government officials and representatives of the Chinese Embassy to Bolivia.

- - - -

ADDIS ABABA -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent reached 3,869,522 as of Friday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

According to the continental disease control and prevention agency's COVID-19 dashboard, the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 102,843 as of Friday afternoon.

- - - -

DHAKA -- Bangladesh reported 470 new COVID-19 cases and 11 new deaths on Friday, making the tally at 545,424 and death toll at 8,395, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

The official data showed that 15,032 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh.

- - - -

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia reported 2,253 new COVID-19 infections, the health ministry said on Friday, bringing the national total to 295,951.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that seven of the new cases are imported and 2,246 are local transmissions.

- - - -

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong started the COVID-19 vaccine rollout on Friday for priority groups, including medical workers and the aged, a week after the arrival of the first batch of mainland-made doses.

The vaccine was given at five community vaccination centers and 18 general out-patient clinics, where people waited in long queues to get their first shots. As far, all 70,000 booking slots available for the next two weeks have been taken up.

- - - -

MOSCOW -- Russia registered 11,086 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily increase since Oct. 5, the country's COVID-19 response center said Friday.

The national tally has thus increased to 4,223,186, with 85,304 deaths and 3,783,386 recoveries, the center said.

- - - -

BEIJING -- China has granted conditional market approval to four self-developed COVID-19 vaccines, Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang said Friday.

China has adopted five technological approaches in developing COVID-19 vaccines. China now has 17 self-developed COVID-19 vaccines undergoing clinical trials, with seven undergoing phase-3 clinical trials, Wang told a press conference held in Beijing.

- - - -

JAKARTA -- The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 8,232 within one day to 1,322,866, with the death toll adding by 268 to 35,786, the health ministry said on Friday.

According to the ministry, 7,261 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,128,672.

- - - -

SUVA -- Fiji reported on Friday two new imported COVID-19 cases.

According to Fiji's Ministry of Health, the first case is a 22-year-old male who traveled to Fiji from Durban, South Africa, arriving in Nadi, Fiji's third-largest city from Auckland, New Zealand. He returned a positive result during routine quarantine testing while undergoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine in Nadi.

- - - -

LAGOS -- Health authorities in Nigeria have rolled out a national training program for healthcare workers who will be involved in the COVID-19 vaccination at national and state levels in preparation for the arrival of coronavirus vaccines into the country.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said at least 13,000 healthcare workers are being trained in the first phase of the program. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)