FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* A highly contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain is now predominant in Cyprus, its health ministry said. AMERICAS * Johnson & Johnson will ship relatively few shots around the U.S. until it receives regulatory clearance for a plant in Baltimore, a top White House Health official said. * Brazil's Sao Paulo state will begin easing restrictions from Monday, vice governor Rodrigo Garcia said, after the country set on Thursday a daily record of 4,249 deaths.

Doses of COVID-19 vaccines rejected as countries fine-tune their inoculation campaigns will go to poor countries where possible to counter a "shocking imbalance" in distribution, international health officials said. More than 700 million jabs have been administered worldwide, but low income countries received just 0.2%, the head of the World Health Organization said on Friday.

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 * The European Commission is seeking governments' approval to launch talks with Pfizer and BioNTech to buy up to 1.8 billion doses to be delivered in 2022 and 2023, an EU official said.

* Major British travel company Jet2 said it was cancelling holidays until late June, blaming uncertainty from Britain's government over plans for restarting international travel. * France's top health advisory body recommended that recipients of a first dose of the AstraZeneca shot who are under 55 should receive a second dose with an mRNA vaccine. * Angela Merkel plans to take control from federal states to impose restrictions on regions of Germany with high numbers of new infections, while the country is negotiating with Russia on an advance purchase agreement of its Sputnik V vaccine.

* Slovakia's new prime minister sought to defuse a row with Russia over a vaccine shipment, saying it was in Slovakia's interest to secure Russia's Sputnik V vaccine after Moscow accused it of contract violations. * A highly contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain is now predominant in Cyprus, its health ministry said.

AMERICAS * Johnson & Johnson will ship relatively few shots around the U.S. until it receives regulatory clearance for a plant in Baltimore, a top White House Health official said.

* Brazil's Sao Paulo state will begin easing restrictions from Monday, vice governor Rodrigo Garcia said, after the country set on Thursday a daily record of 4,249 deaths. * Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attacked a Supreme Court justice after the judge ordered Congress to begin a probe of the federal government's pandemic response.

* Mexico will expand vaccinations to adults over 50 at the end of April, its president said. ASIA-PACIFIC

* Australia said it had ordered more alternatives for the AstraZeneca vaccine, setting back its vaccination rollout, and Hong Kong delayed deliveries of the shot amid concern about a possible very small risk of rare blood clots. * India reported another record number of new infections and daily deaths hit their highest in more than five months.

* Japan placed Tokyo under a new, month-long state of "quasi-emergency" to combat surging infections. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Tunisia's government will review the curfew it has brought in to slow infections, after the president and a powerful labour union said it would hit shops, cafes and restaurants in the month of Ramadan that starts next week. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Europe's drug regulator said it had started reviewing reports of a bleeding condition in people who had received AstraZeneca's vaccine and was also looking into Johnson & Johnson's shot over blood clots. * Johnson & Johnson said it was in talks with India to begin a clinical trial of its single-dose vaccine.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * The S&P 500 and the Dow posted modest gains, but the Nasdaq was lower, with interest-rate sensitive stocks losing ground as Treasury yields edged higher.

* If an expected jump in inflation this year does not reverse going into 2022, the Fed "will have to take that into account" in setting policy, Federal Reserve vice chair Richard Clarida said. (Compiled by Juliette Portala and Jagoda Darlak ; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)