FACTBOX-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The European Union reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, while Japan is considering extending a state of emergency beyond the greater Tokyo region.

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 reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, which would give the EU nearly half of the firms' global output for 2021.

* People entering England and Scotland will have to show a negative COVID-19 test result from next week as authorities try to increase protection against new variants of the coronavirus from other countries. * Hungary will extend existing restrictions, including a night curfew, until Feb. 1, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Japan is considering extending a state of emergency from the Tokyo metropolitan area to other regions as cases increase, a move that could heighten the risk of a double-dip recession for the world's third-largest economy.

* Beijing shut places of worship and authorities restricted access to a highway to the city of Shijiazhuang, which is battling a new cluster of infections. * Travellers to Australia will have to show a negative COVID-19 test before they can board their plane, as Brisbane went into lockdown after the discovery of a case of a virulent new variant.

* The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan reported its first COVID-19 death 10 months after initially detecting the virus and managing to keep the disease under control by largely sealing off the country. AMERICAS

* U.S. health officials sought to speed up the sluggish pace of vaccinations on Thursday, as the coronavirus claimed over 4,000 American lives for a second straight day. * Brazil has signed a deal with Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute to buy the full output this year of a Chinese vaccine it is producing, as the country's COVID-19 death toll crossed 200,000.

* Millions of U.S. pandemic stimulus payments have been deposited in incorrect customer accounts due to an Internal Revenue Service error, according to Intuit TurboTax, which is helping to distribute the payments. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned Iran's government from importing COVID-19 vaccines from the United States and Britain. * Israel tightened a national lockdown in a bid to curb a sharp rise in new cases, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising that all Israeli adults could be vaccinated by the end of March.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine appeared to work against a key mutation in the highly transmissible new variants of the coronavirus, according to a lab study by the U.S. drugmaker.

* A coronavirus vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech was 78% effective in a late-stage Brazilian trial with no severe cases. * South Korean researchers say they have designed an inflatable "negative pressure" ward for isolating and treating patients with infectious diseases like COVID-19.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * Global shares rallied, while U.S. Treasuries extended their steepest sell-off in months on Friday as investors looked beyond rising coronavirus cases and political unrest in the United States to focus on hopes for an economic recovery later in the year.

* The U.S. economy likely created the fewest jobs in seven months in December or even shed workers as the country buckled under an onslaught of COVID-19 infections. * Japan's household spending unexpectedly rose in November, as consumer sentiment showed cautious signs of recovery from the damage inflicted by the pandemic.

(Compiled by Linda Pasquini, Ramakrishnan M., Devika Syamnath; Edited Shounak Dasgupta, Anil D'Silva and Giles Elgood)