LEADERS of 23 countries and the World Health Organization backed an idea to create an international treaty that would help the world deal with future health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic now ravaging the globe.


DEATHS AND INFECTIONS 

EUROPE

* German leaders will discuss the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, after several states said they would stop giving the shot to people under the age of 60 following further reports of a rare brain blood disorder.

* Britain could approve Novavax's vaccine next month, the chief investigator for the shot's trial told the Evening Standard newspaper.

* Austria is in talks with Russia to buy a million doses of its Sputnik V vaccine, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's office said.

* Poland will widen access to vaccines in April to those in their 40s and 50s, the government said.

AMERICAS

* 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, 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.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape received the first shot in the Pacific Island country.

* India has received more than a third of the nearly 28 million Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine doses delivered so far by the global programme for poor countries, according to data from UNICEF and vaccine alliance Gavi.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Iran said a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic had taken hold in western and central areas of the country, triggered by widespread travel and celebrations during the current Iranian New Year holidays.

* A new coronavirus strain has been identified in Israel, the Health Ministry said, and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine appeared to be effective against it.

* Pakistan will import more coronavirus vaccines made by China's CanSino Biologics next month, equivalent to 3 million doses, the minister in charge for COVID-19 operations said.

* Mali has approved the use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* BioNTech said it and partner Pfizer expect to increase manufacturing capacity of their vaccine to 2.5 billion doses by the end of 2021.

* German biotech firm CureVac said it had partnered with Swiss contract manufacturer Celonic to produce more than 100 million doses of its vaccine candidate.

* COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer with BioNTech and Moderna based on messenger RNA technology reduced risk of infection by 80% two weeks or more after the first of two shots and by 90% about two weeks after the second shot - including asymptomatic infections, according to data from a real-world U.S. study.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global stock markets rose as investors shook off worries about a hedge fund default that hit international banking stocks overnight, and remained focused on the global COVID-19 vaccination programme. 

* Higher energy prices and supply chain disruptions pushed Germany's annual consumer price inflation in March above the European Central Bank's target of close to but below 2%, Federal Statistics Office data showed.

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