FACTBOX-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* Britain's government needs to bring in tighter lockdown rules to avert a fresh wave of deaths from a new variant of the disease, a leading epidemiologist warned. * Ireland began its COVID-19 vaccination campaign by giving a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to a 79-year-old woman at a hospital in Dublin, the health service said.

More countries secured deals for COVID-19 vaccines and started with vaccinations, as global shares and oil once again positively reacted to the U.S. $2.3 trillion pandemic relief stimulus package signed into law by President Donald Trump on Sunday.

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 Union will buy an extra 100 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

* Switzerland has documented five cases of a coronavirus variant from Britain and two cases of a South African variant.

* Britain's government needs to bring in tighter lockdown rules to avert a fresh wave of deaths from a new variant of the disease, a leading epidemiologist warned.

* Ireland began its COVID-19 vaccination campaign by giving a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to a 79-year-old woman at a hospital in Dublin, the health service said.

* President Klaus Iohannis said Romania would donate 200,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Moldova.

AMERICAS

* U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will receive a COVID-19 vaccination live on television, as the incoming Biden administration seeks to boost confidence in the inoculation.

* The U.S. Senate will grapple on Tuesday with whether to increase payments to Americans reeling from the pandemic and override President Donald Trump's veto of a $740 billion defense bill.

* Argentina began to vaccinate its citizens against the coronavirus using 300,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine delivered last week.

* Mexico expects delivery of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to increase to over 100,000 doses by Jan. 4 and more than 1.4 million doses by the end of next month.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* India has found six cases of a more infectious strain of the coronavirus in people arriving from Britain and will likely extend a flight ban to guard against it, officials said.

* Beijing sealed off 10 areas of its northeastern Shunyi district, the first lockdown in the Chinese capital since the last outbreak in June and July.

* Indonesia is poised to secure vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca, as it awaits authorisation to begin its inoculation programme with a third drug, by China's Sinovac.

* Thailand warned that more intensive measures might be necessary to halt its worst outbreak yet.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Turkey aims to produce Russia's Sputnik V vaccine domestically but has asked for more information about it before inoculating its citizens.

* The United Arab Emirates has discovered a "limited number" of cases of people infected with the new coronavirus variant in the country, a government official said at a press conference.

* Dubai is planning to inoculate 70% of its population with the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech by the end of 2021, a health official said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The European Medicines Authority (EMA) will most likely not be able to approve the vaccine developed by drug maker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in January, the watchdog's Deputy Executive Director Noel Wathion said.

* Iran launched human trials of its first domestic COVID-19 vaccine candidate. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global shares rose for a fourth straight day on Tuesday and oil followed suit as hopes of fresh U.S. stimulus teed up a strong end to the year for riskier assets and had the dollar eyeing two-and-a-half-year lows.

* German exports shrank by at least 12% this year as demand from the United States and Britain collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic while Asia remained the only bright spot for Europe's largest economy, the BGA trade association said.