The world recorded an additional 7,467 deaths due to Covid-19 on November 16, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to 1,331,345.

The US, the world’s largest epidemic region, recorded 11,518,670 cases of infection and 252,534 deaths after reporting 163,509 and 722 additional cases, respectively.

Moncef Slaoui, co-leader of the US government’s rapid vaccine research campaign, announced on November 13 that about 20 million people could be vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccine next month.

[Medical staff brought a person suspected of being infected with nCoV to a hospital in Texas, USA, on November 15.

India, the second largest epidemic area in the world, reported an additional 28,377 cases of infection and 443 deaths, bringing the total number of people infected and dead from Covid-19 to 8,873,994 and 130,552 respectively.

While the number of new daily infections in other parts of India has decreased significantly since the peak of the epidemic in mid-September, the capital New Delhi with 20 million people is experiencing the worst phase of the pandemic.

Brazil, the third largest epidemic area in the world, recorded 203 more deaths from nCoV, bringing the total number of deaths to 166,014.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said handling the pandemic would be easier and less expensive if investing in treatment drugs instead of vaccines, and continued to promote the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, despite much evidence that it was

France reported 1,991,223 infections and 45,054 deaths after recording an additional 9,406 infections and 506 deaths.

Paris police on November 14 announced that they were investigating an illegal party taking place in Joinville-Le-Pont, near the capital, with up to 400 people attending despite bans to prevent Covid-19.

The UK reported an additional 21,363 cases and 213 deaths, bringing cases and deaths to 1,390,681 and 52,157 respectively.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is self-isolating after coming into contact with a person confirmed to be positive for nCoV, affirming that he is still `healthy as hell` and calling on people to comply with distancing measures.

Germany recorded 14,582 new infections and 199 deaths, bringing infections and deaths to 817,526 and 12,891 respectively.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said the country could extend restrictive measures to prevent Covid-19 for another 4-5 months.

The blockade order to prevent Covid-19 faced strong opposition from the German people when about 600 people from the Querdenker movement, an organization protesting the government’s pandemic control measures, took to the streets to protest on November 14.

South Africa is the country most heavily affected by the pandemic in Africa, recording 752,269 cases of infection and 20,314 deaths, an increase of 1,245 and 73 cases respectively.

South Africa began easing restrictions to the lowest level in September, after the rate of new infections decreased, and opened its borders to international passengers from early October after a 6-month ban.

Iran, the largest epidemic region in the Middle East, reported 41,979 deaths, an increase of 486, out of a total of 775,121 cases, an increase of 13,053.

Iran’s Ministry of Health said on November 15 that officials in this country are considering applying new restrictive measures to prevent Covid-19 nationwide from November 21 after daily nCoV infections continued to increase.

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is the largest epidemic area in the region with 470,684 cases, an increase of 3,535 compared to the previous day, of which 15,296 deaths, an increase of 85 cases.

The Philippines reported 409,574 cases of infection and 7,839 deaths, an increase of 1,738 and 5 cases respectively, making it the second largest epidemic area in the region.

`We continue to receive encouraging news about Covid-19 vaccines, but remain cautiously optimistic about the potential of new tools that may emerge in the coming months. However, this is not the case.

The statement came after pharmaceutical company Moderna announced that its Covid-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective, based on preliminary data from late-stage testing, becoming the second manufacturer in the US to report