Factbox - Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

BRITAIN will confirm in early May whether it will allow international travel to resume from May 17 and which countries will fall into the red, amber or green categories in a traffic light system based on COVID-19 risks.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* Italy's government is in talks with Moderna Inc and could soon sign a contract with the group for further COVID-19 vaccine doses, Italian daily la Repubblica reported.

AMERICAS

* Brazil on Thursday set a daily record of 4,249 COVID-19 deaths, with overwhelmed hospitals running low on supplies and the Senate about to open an investigation into the response of the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has played down the pandemic from the start.

* Venezuela has the capacity to produce the experimental Cuban coronavirus vaccine candidate known as Abdala at a Caracas biomedical facility, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said.

* The state of Florida sued President Joe Biden's administration in federal court seeking to block the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to prevent the U.S. cruise industry from immediately resuming operations paused for a year because of the pandemic.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Australia has doubled its order of the Pfizer Inc COVID-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as the country raced to overhaul its inoculation plan over concerns about the risks of blood clots with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

* South Korea will reimpose a ban on nightclubs, karaoke bars and other nightly entertainment facilities, authorities said on Friday, after the number of new coronavirus cases surged, fanning fears over a potential fourth wave of outbreaks.

* Australia's most populous state said on Friday it has temporarily suspended the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine following updated advice from the federal government.

* Hong Kong said on Friday it will delay shipments of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine this year.

* A government panel of experts is investigating for any domestic cases of blood clotting, even mild ones, as a side effect of the two COVID-19 vaccines being administered in India, financial daily Mint reported on Friday.

* Japan aims to place Tokyo under a new, month-long "quasi-emergency" state to combat surging COVID-19 case numbers, a minister said on Friday, less than a month after the capital and host of the Summer Olympics lifted a broader state of emergency.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Tunisia approved Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, Health minister Faouzi Mehdi said, and will soon receive 1.5 million doses under an African Union plan.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Johnson & Johnson has told Indian regulators that it will soon begin clinical trials of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine in the country, the Indian Express newspaper reported on Friday.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global stocks held firm near record highs on Friday as receding inflation fears in the United States pushed down bond yields and lifted Wall Street, though softness in Chinese shares capped gains in Asia.

* Thailand's economy may expand less than forecast this year, a central bank official said on Friday, after a third wave of coronavirus infections and concerns about the presence of a highly contagious variant.