Factbox - Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

INDIA is hopeful the United States will soon lift a ban on the export of vaccine raw materials that threatens to slow India's inoculation drive, two Indian government sources told Reuters.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* French health minister Olivier Veran would favour a region-by-region easing of lockdown measures set up to tackle the COVID-19 virus, he told regional paper Le Telegramme.

* Russian scientists have found the Sputnik V vaccine 97.6% effective against COVID-19 in a "real-world" assessment based on data from 3.8 million people, Moscow's Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund said.

* Greece has suspended a planned roll-out of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccinations, but does not expect that to impact its overall inoculation programme.

* Britain will add India to its travel "red-list" on Friday after detecting 103 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in the country.

AMERICAS

* The U.S. State Department has delivered COVID-19 vaccines to all of its eligible workforce deployed abroad as of Sunday and is expecting its entire workforce to have been fully vaccinated by mid-May, State Department officials said.

* The U.S. State Department said it will boost its "Do Not Travel" guidance to about 80% of countries worldwide, citing "unprecedented risk to travellers" from the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Monday the province expects to face a delay in the supply of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

* Colombia will extend measures such as nightly curfews and limits on who can enter shops and other businesses by two weeks as part of efforts to curb a third wave, the government said.

* New U.S. cases fell 0.4% last week after rising for four weeks in a row, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county data.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* New Zealand authorities reported that a worker in Auckland airport has tested positive for COVID-19, but doubted whether the new case would warrant ordering a pause in quarantine-free travel with Australia.

* The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration has allowed the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and India's Bharat Biotech, it said.

* India will waive its 10% customs duty on imported COVID-19 vaccines, a senior government official told Reuters. The government will also fund a production capacity boost for vaccine makers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Israel signed a deal to buy millions of doses of vaccines from Pfizer through 2022.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The United States is reviewing reports of a handful of potential cases of severe side effects among people who received Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to those that led to a pause in its use, a top U.S. public health official said.

* Spain will study the effects of mixing different coronavirus vaccines, government researchers said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government lined up billions in new spending to provide emergency support during a virulent third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and to help launch an economic recovery ahead of an election expected later this year.