Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* Britain will focus on vaccinating the whole of its adult population before it can to provide any surplus shots to other countries such as its close neighbour Ireland.

* Sweden's health agency said it had asked the government to postpone a planned easing of some restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 by nearly a month as the country grappled with a third wave of the virus.

* U.S. President Joe Biden urged states to pause reopening efforts and a top health official warned of "impending doom", amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that threaten efforts to quash the coronavirus pandemic.

* New York will expand eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to people 30 and older on Tuesday, and make it available to anyone 16 and above on April 6.

* Canadian health officials said they would stop offering AstraZeneca's vaccine to people under age 55 and require a new analysis of the shot's risks and benefits based on age and gender.

* Honduras said it would temporary restrict arrivals from South America, citing fears about the so-called Brazilian variant of the coronavirus entering its territory.

* Australia's Queensland state warned that more cases were expected to emerge as authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak linked to the virulent UK variant, throwing Easter travel plans into disarray.

* India reported the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in five months, with the second wave of the disease driven by surging infections in the country's richest state Maharastra.

* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced tighter measures against the coronavirus on Monday, citing the rising number of high-risk cities across the country.

* Johnson & Johnson will supply the African Union (AU) with up to 400 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine beginning in the third quarter, the drugmaker said on Monday, as the continent grapples with vaccinating 60% of its people.

* Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma have recovered from COVID-19 and have tested negative for the disease, the Syrian presidency said.

* COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer with BioNTech and Moderna reduced risk of infection by 80% two weeks or more after the first of two shots, according to data from a real-world U.S. study.

* A wide array of U.S. experts will extensively review a World Health Organization report on the origin of the COVID-19 virus, with a focus on ensuring the investigation was independent and technically sound.

* A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" as a cause, a summary seen by Reuters said.

* Asian share markets strengthened on Tuesday as investors remained focused on the global vaccination program and shook off worries about a hedge fund default that hit international banking stocks overnight.

* French consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in March despite new coronavirus restrictions on large parts of the country and the prospect of more curbs on the way.

* The cost of supporting businesses, workers and the unemployed from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to top 14 billion euros this year, costing Greece nearly double what it had projected, the finance minister said.