Russia announced Tuesday it had developed a vaccine for the coronavirus but the vaccine has not been tested widely and it was unclear how safe and effective it would be as the case count worldwide passed 20 million and the death toll mounted.

In other developments, the Big Ten and Pac-12 canceled fall sports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had developed the first coronavirus vaccine, and he was so confident of its safety and effectiveness, one of his daughters was inoculated. The vaccine, however, has not been widely tested, raising questions among experts.

Russia’s Health Ministry said it expects the vaccine to provide immunity for two years. Widespread vaccinations were to begin later this month.

The World Health Organization tracker indicated more than 165 vaccines are under development with eight in phase 3 clinical trials. The Russian vaccine is not among them.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration issued final guidelines for a vaccine along with an emergency use authorization for producers to conduct animal trials to prove whether a vaccine can guard against more serious infection. A U.S. vaccine was not expected to be ready until near the end of the year or early in 2021.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 20 million overnight, a tally by Johns Hopkins showed, with COVID-19 deaths topping 738,000. The United States led with more than 5.1 million cases and 164,300 deaths, followed by Brazil with more than 3 million cases and nearly 102,000 deaths and India with nearly 2.3 million cases and more than 45,000 deaths. The death counts in Mexico (53,000) and the United Kingdom (46,611) were higher than India’s even though their case counts were lower.

"Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering. ... But I want to be clear: There are green shoots of hope," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

WHO said half of the 100,000 new cases being reported daily in the Americans are centered in the United States.

The Big Ten Conference decided to postpone the 2020-21 fall sports season, including championships and tournaments.

“The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement.

The Pac-12 followed suit two hours later, saying it would continue providing scholarships to student athletes impacted by the decision and noted that unlike pro sports teams, student athletics cannot be conducted in a bubble.

“We know that this is a difficult day for our student-athletes, and our hearts go out to them and their families,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement.

In other news:

  • Layoffs blamed on the pandemic mounted, with Firefox and Debenhams making the latest announcements. Firefox said it would lay off 250 employees while U.K. retailer Debenhams said it would shed 2,500 jobs.
  • A study conducted by Ruhr University in Germany indicated commercially available mouthwashes could help reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission. The research emphasized, however, though mouthwashes appear to reduce viral load, they cannot protect against the virus.
  • A British study indicated chemotherapy produced no added risk to COVID-19 patients. The findings were the result of research on 890 cancer patients in Spain, Germany, Italy and the U.K.
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