Skopje, Nov 19 (IANS): North Macedonia's confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 50,000, reaching 50,015, after health authorities reported 1,406 cases, the country's Health Ministry said.

According to the Public Health Institute, a total of 937 patients diagnosed with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, have recovered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 29,583, Xinhua reported.

So far, Covid-19 has claimed the lives of 1,397 people in North Macedonia, up by 21 in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, health authorities report that 19,035 cases are still active.

Health authorities have conducted a total of 300,200 tests of suspected cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, countries including France, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.

According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of November 12, there were 212 Covid-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 48 of them were in clinical trials.