Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

A person leaves a vaccination center during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, as Austria's government has imposed a lockdown on people who are not fully vaccinated, in Vienna, Austria, November 18, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

(Reuters) - Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news

EUROPE

* Germany's situation is so grave that a lockdown, including vaccinated people, cannot be ruled out, the health minister said, adding the country was in talks with Pfizer about possibly buying its experimental antiviral pill.

* A third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should be extended to all French people aged over 40, France's health regulator said.

* Dutch healthcare officials said they have begun delaying operations for some cancer and heart patients to free up space in intensive care units during a record wave of COVID-19 infections.

* Russia, which reported a record daily high of deaths in the last 24 hours, said its level of collective immunity against COVID-19 stood at 50.2% as of Nov. 19, up from 49% the previous week.

AMERICAS

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines for all adults six months after having been fully vaccinated with the shots from either Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc.

* Canada authorized the use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, paving the way for the inoculation of elementary school-age children across the country.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Japan unveiled a record $490 billion spending package to cushion the economic blow from the pandemic, bucking a global trend towards withdrawing crisis-mode stimulus measures and adding strains to its already tattered finances.

* The first known case was a market vendor in China's Wuhan, not an accountant who appeared to have no link to the market but whose case contributed to speculation the virus could have leaked from a lab, according to a U.S. study.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Nigeria's economy grew just over 4% in the third quarter, the statistics office said on Thursday, lifted by higher oil prices, as the country targets mass vaccination from this month.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The European Union's drug regulator has issued advice on using Merck's COVID-19 pill for adults and began a review of a rival tablet from Pfizer to help member states decide on quick adoption ahead of any formal EU-wide approval.

* Pfizer plans to apply for a European authorisation of its experimental antiviral pill, German weekly Wirtschaftswoche said, citing sources close to the European Medicines Agency and the company.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Resurgent concerns about COVID-19 in the face of looming European lockdowns weighed on a range of sectors Friday, pushing stocks and oil down and boosting the dollar.

* Oil prices fell below $80 a barrel as surging COVID-19 cases in Europe threatened to slow the economic recovery while investors also weighed a potential release of crude reserves by major economies to cool prices.

(Compiled by Juliette Portala, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta, Andrew Cawthorne and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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