Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

(Reuters) - Countries are racing to vaccinate more citizens and expand vaccine mandates as an Omicron-driven surge in COVID-19 cases strains healthcare systems and disrupts businesses and events.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

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

EUROPE

* German towns have appealed to authorities for less "flying by the seat of your pants" and more "forward-thinking," as the country looks likely to miss its vaccination target for January.

* France reported 261,481 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, less than the record of more than 332,000 set on Wednesday, but the seven-day moving average of new cases rose above 200,000 for the first time since the start of the health crisis.

* Italy reported a record daily number of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday at 219,441 against 189,109 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 198 from 231.

* Norwegian cruise and travel operator Hurtigruten Group will cut short a voyage in the Antarctica region following an outbreak of the coronavirus, the company said on Thursday.

AMERICAS

* The White House said on Thursday the decision to enact vaccine mandates for schools is up to local school districts.

* Chile will begin offering a fourth shot of the coronavirus vaccine next week to immunocompromised citizens, the government said on Thursday, the first country in Latin America and one of the first in the world to offer the extra dose.

* Peru, which has one of the world's highest COVID-19 mortality rates per number of inhabitants, raised its pandemic alert level in various cities and tightened some restrictions due to a third wave of infections caused by the spread of the Omicron variant.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday people who have not taken COVID-19 shots will be arrested if they disobeyed stay-at-home orders as infections hit a three-month high.

* Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways said on Thursday it will cut more passenger flights and operate a reduced cargo capacity after the city tightened restrictions fearing a fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

* More cities in central China's Henan province imposed restrictions as infections there rose sharply.

* Indian megacities Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, although without a corresponding rise in hospitalisations, but fears are growing about a spread to rural areas in coming days.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

* Iraq has identified more than five cases of Omicron, the health ministry said in a statement.

* Africa's top public health official said on Thursday severe lockdowns were no longer the best way to contain COVID-19, praising South Africa for adopting that approach when responding to its latest infection wave driven by the Omicron variant.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The more infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to produce less severe disease than the globally dominant Delta strain, but should not be categorised as "mild", World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Thursday.

* GlaxoSmithKline PLC said on Thursday it has signed agreements with the Canadian government to supply 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 drug Sotrovimab.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* A group of institutional investors representing $3.5 trillion in assets under management on Thursday called on pharmaceutical companies to link their executives' pay to making COVID-19 vaccines available around the globe.

(Compiled by Shailesh Kuber, Jagoda Darlak and Uttaresh.V; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta, Mark Potter and Arun Koyyur)

Signage at a COVID-19 lateral flow test collection point informs that tests are unavailable, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Northwich, Britain, January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

A man receives a dose of the Moderna vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the day the government is expected to approve new rules for schools and COVID-19 vaccination for workers, at the Music Auditorium in Rome, Italy, January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

An employee of the Rios funeral home move the body of a person, who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), into the facility in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Medical workers in protective suits collect swabs for nucleic acid testing during a mass testing following cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Xuchang, Henan province, China January 6, 2022. China Daily via REUTERS

Commuters leave a platform after disembarking from a suburban train, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a railway station on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

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