Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The COVAX facility to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries faces a "serious challenge" to meet demand, while experts examining the origins of the coronavirus first identified in China will follow up on an initial report released this week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE
* The European Union has asked India to allow it to buy 10 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine from Serum Institute of India, a government official told Reuters.
* Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the COVID-19 situation in France was very sad and experience had shown that the disease usually hit the United Kingdom a few weeks after it hurt France.
* French President Emmanuel Macron's order for a third COVID-19 lockdown, having insisted for weeks on keeping the country open against the advice of scientists, has exposed him to criticism from rivals with an eye on next year's election.
* Turkey recorded 40,806 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Thursday, the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.
* Europe's rollout of vaccinations is "unacceptably slow," the World Health Organization's European head said, raising concern that delays in innoculating the public could prolong the pandemic as cases of variants spread.
* Britain's opposition Labour leader has expressed scepticism about the use of so-called vaccine passports to allow people to access hospitality and entertainment venues, saying the "British instinct" could be against such documents.

AMERICAS
* U.S. President Joe Biden is enlisting the help of groups as varied as NASCAR and the NAACP as part of a multi-billion dollar effort to convince Americans to take COVID-19 vaccines.
* Several states in Brazil are in critical condition and hospitals are overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove told a briefing on Thursday.

ASIA-PACIFIC
* China's TopRidge Pharma has agreed to produce more than 100 million doses of Russia's two-shot Sputnik V vaccine, Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund said.
* Hong Kong authorities said they would resume the use of BioNTech's vaccine next Monday after abruptly halting inoculations nine days ago due to defective packaging.
* India began vaccinating tens of thousands of people above the age of 45 in its biggest push yet against a surging coronavirus that has hit the highest daily count since early October, officials said.
* Japan said it will impose emergency measures in the western region of Osaka to halt a rebound in COVID-19 cases.
* South Korean authorities are facing a backlash for relying on global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX for a bulk of its COVID-19 shots as shipment delays threaten to slow the country's inoculation programme.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* India's temporary hold on major exports of AstraZeneca's shot will undermine Africa's vaccination plans, and could have a "catastrophic" impact if extended, the head of the continent's disease control body said.
* Egypt received 854,400 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine as part of the global COVAX agreement, the health ministry said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday their vaccine is around 91% effective at preventing COVID-19, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
* World stocks ran higher following their slowest quarter in a year, as U.S. economic strength offset the return to strict lockdown measures in parts of Europe and elsewhere.