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| - Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: The pandemic has killed at least 863,679 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year, according to an AFP count at 1100 GMT Thursday, based on official sources. More than 26 million cases have been registered. The United States has recorded the highest number of deaths with 185,752, followed by Brazil with 123,780, India with 67,376, Mexico 65,816 and Britain 41,514 fatalities. The group tasked with investigating the heavily criticised World Health Organization-led global response to the coronavirus pandemic gets underway, saying it will have full access to the WHO's records. The 13-strong Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), co-chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, intends to produce interim findings in November and a full report in May 2021. French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi says it will start human trials of the potential coronavirus vaccine it is developing with British peer GSK, following promising preliminary tests. A protein-based vaccine owned by Sanofi and used to treat influenza has been paired with a GSK-developed add-on, known as an adjuvant, that boosts the recipient's immune response. With cases on the rise, the French government says employment is paramount as it unleashes a mammoth spending plan for the virus-hit economy that has been hemorrhaging jobs. Prime Minister Jean Castex promises 160,000 new jobs in 2021 as part of a recovery plan worth 100 billion euros ($120 billion) for the recession-hit economy. US President Donald Trump's administration urges US states to get ready to distribute a potential Covid-19 vaccine by November 1 -- two days before the presidential election, which has been overshadowed by the virus and the economic crisis it provoked. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks states to sweep away red tape that could prevent a network of vaccine distribution centres being "fully operational by Nov. 1, 2020." burs-jmy-ot/wai
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