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| - Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: The pandemic has killed at least 579,838 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year and more than 13.4 million have been infected, according to an AFP tally at 1900 GMT on Wednesday based on official sources. The United States is the worst-hit country with 136,900 deaths. It is followed by Brazil with 74,133, Britain with 45,053, Mexico with 36,327, and Italy with 34,997 fatalities. Venezuela becomes the latest country to reimpose localised lockdown measures, its president announcing a "radical quarantine" in the capital Caracas and neighbouring Miranda state, just four days after the government announced a loosening of restrictions. American biotech firm Moderna says it will start the final stage of human trials for its vaccine candidate on July 27, after promising results from earlier testing. The study should run until October 2022 but preliminary results should be available before then. The Russian defence ministry meanwhile says it has developed a "safe" coronavirus vaccine following clinical trials on a group of 18 volunteers, who were discharged without "serious adverse events, health complaints, complications or side effects". News of the US vaccine candidate, along with another round of US stimulus, boosts most stock markets, with European markets as much as two percent higher at the close, outperforming the Dow on Wall Street which had retreated from opening gains by the late New York morning. US economic activity increased in June, but has not returned to its pre-pandemic level and the outlook remains "highly uncertain," the Federal Reserve says in its beige book report. The world's biggest retailer Walmart says it will from next week require shoppers to wear face masks saying they are "critically important", and adding to the cultural debate over face coverings in the world's worst-hit country. Iran, which is struggling to contain the Middle East's worst COVID-19 outbreak, says that 140 of its health workers have died of the novel coronavirus, with thousands more infected, as officials urge Iranians to observe health protocols. The World Health Organization says it is "concerned" about reports of pneumonia in Turkmenistan, a closed Central Asian country that has yet to declare any coronavirus cases. It recommends the government adopt measures including contact tracing. burs-rap-jmy/pvh
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