Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: A woman receives a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination, at Jordan Downs in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 10, 2021. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

(Reuters) - Leaders of the world's 20 largest economies are set to commit to supporting efforts to shorten to 100 days the period needed to develop new vaccines, drugs and tests in a pandemic, according to a draft joint document.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news

EUROPE

* Russia reported 1,163 new deaths, its highest one-day toll of the pandemic, amid a surge in cases that has forced officials to reimpose partial lockdowns.

* Poland's total number of cases since the start of the pandemic passed 3 million, health ministry data showed, as the fourth wave of infections gathers pace.

* Crowd surfing will not be permitted at concerts in Ireland and nightclub goers must form a socially distanced queue to buy drinks, under guidelines issued by the government for recently reopened venues.

* Ukraine registered a record daily high of 26,870 new infections over the past 24 hours, exceeding the previous high of 26,071 a day earlier, the health ministry said.

AMERICAS

* Regulations governing deep-sea mining will take longer to finalise due to the global pandemic, a group of Latin American and Caribbean countries said.

* The U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in more than a year in the third quarter as a resurgence in cases further stretched global supply chains.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* A Chinese jade trading hub on the border with Myanmar vowed strict control over domestic outbound travel to halt the spread of COVID-19, sustaining some of the toughest zero-tolerance policies in China.

* Malaysia, which said it would proceed with the procurement of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children, announced its largest ever budget to jump-start a pandemic-battered economy.

* South Korea will drop all operating-hour curbs on restaurants and cafes and implement its first vaccine passport for high-risk venues such as gyms, saunas and bars.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* The European Commission suspended funding for its COVID-19 operations to the World Health Organization's (WHO) programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to concerns over the U.N. agency's handling of a sexual abuse scandal.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Takeda Pharmaceutical, the Japanese partner for Novavax's vaccine, is preparing to seek regulatory approval for a roll-out in Japan early next year, its top executive said.

* An estimated 30 million to 50 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine made early this year sits idle in Emergent BioSolutions Inc's plant in Baltimore awaiting a green light from U.S. regulators to ship, two sources familiar with the matter said.

* The WHO said it was seeking further data from Merck on its experimental new antiviral COVID-19 pill and hoped to issue guidance in coming weeks.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Amazon and Apple earnings took the froth out of U.S. stock futures and world equities, though the euro held near one-month highs on euro zone rate rise hopes. [MKTS/GLOB]

(Compiled by Juliette Portala and Sherry Jacob-Phillips ; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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