FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The flights were suspended over fears of a new strain of the coronavirus. * Shanghai reported zero new domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for Aug. 10, the same as a day earlier, the city government said on Thursday.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un declared victory in the battle against COVID-19 on Thursday, with the leader's sister revealing he had suffered from fever and vowing "deadly retaliation" against South Korea which it blames for causing the outbreak. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, click on COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news. cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?navid=1592404098 ASIA-PACIFIC

* The eastern Chinese export hub Yiwu in Zhejiang province imposed a three-day lockdown starting on Thursday to contain a recent COVID-19 outbreak, the city government said on Thursday. * China and Britain have agreed to resume direct passenger flights between them, the British embassy in China said. The flights were suspended over fears of a new strain of the coronavirus.

* Shanghai reported zero new domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for Aug. 10, the same as a day earlier, the city government said on Thursday. * Mainland China reported 2,166 new coronavirus cases for Aug. 10, of which 700 were symptomatic and 1,466 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.

* India said on Wednesday that Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax can be administered as a booster dose in people who have taken the country's other two main shots, Covaxin and AstraZeneca's Covishield, from Friday. * The PGA Tour of Australasia will expand to 16 events in 2022/23, offering struggling Australian and New Zealand golfers more chances to make a living from the sport after the ruinous impact of COVID-19.

AMERICAS * Finally over his coronavirus infection, U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in South Carolina on Wednesday to spend most of the next week on Kiawah Island, an oceanfront golf resort he has visited in the past.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare's COVID-19 vaccine production lines may soon go idle, and without any new orders it could be forced to pivot to manufacturing other products, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on Thursday after a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation report encouraged bets of less aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, while the dollar remained bruised after its biggest plunge in five months.

* Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp said it would hold to its plan to produce 9.7 million vehicles globally this fiscal year, even as it announced another stoppage related to the spread of COVID-19. * Cathay Pacific Airways said Hong Kong's strict COVID rules for air crew were crimping the airline's ability to exploit rising demand for travel, even as its first-half loss narrowed to HK$5 billion ($636.98 million).

* The U.S. government posted a $211 billion budget deficit for July, a 30% drop from the $302 billion deficit reported in the same month last year, as receipts grew slightly and COVID-19 relief spending fell sharply, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday. * Gaming companies are facing a slowdown in demand for video games from pandemic highs, raising doubts about their ability to weather an economic downturn.

(Compiled by Marta Frackowiak and Subhranshu Sahu; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Milla Nissi)

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