FACTBOX-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* Mexico aims to administer 7.4 million doses of Sputnik V, a Russian-developed COVID-19 vaccine, to its people by the end of March, part of the country's scramble to secure as much supply as quickly as possible. * Pfizer Inc told Canada on Tuesday it will receive no coronavirus vaccines next week, officials said, an unexpected development that promises more pain for provinces already complaining about a shortage of supplies.

Some European countries are drawing fewer than the approved six doses from Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine vials, while the United States surpassed 400,000 deaths from the virus on Tuesday. 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

* German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Germany may need to consider border crossing curbs if other European countries do not act to halt the spread of the coronavirus, particularly its new, more transmissible variants. * Britain said it would give COVID-19 shots to up to 2,000 people working in vaccine supply chains, after AstraZeneca requested protection for its workers trying to deliver an ambitious vaccine rollout programme.

* Portugal is living "one of the saddest moments", the prime minister said, as the daily death toll reached a new record high. ASIA-PACIFIC

* China's capital Beijing said it will investigate all individuals who entered the city from abroad from Dec. 10 and shut down a subway station after reporting the biggest daily jump in new COVID-19 cases in more than three weeks. * South Korea may secure additional coronavirus vaccines for 20 million people from U.S. drugmaker Novavax Inc, President Moon Jae-in said, according to a statement from the presidential office.

* India will start exporting vaccines from Wednesday, paving the way for many mid- and lower-income countries to get supplies of the easy-to-store Oxford/AstraZeneca drug. * China defended its early actions taken to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, saying it immediately notified the World Health Organization and took "the most comprehensive, thorough, strict prevention and control measures".

AMERICAS * Abbott Laboratories' rapid COVID-19 antigen test is highly likely to correctly detect if people have ever contracted the virus and could help with earlier isolation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* Brazil is battling bureaucracy in China to free up exports of active ingredients for vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech, three people familiar with talks told Reuters, without which an immunization push could soon slow to a trickle. * Mexico aims to administer 7.4 million doses of Sputnik V, a Russian-developed COVID-19 vaccine, to its people by the end of March, part of the country's scramble to secure as much supply as quickly as possible.

* Pfizer Inc told Canada on Tuesday it will receive no coronavirus vaccines next week, officials said, an unexpected development that promises more pain for provinces already complaining about a shortage of supplies. * The timeline has closed for Venezuela to join the COVAX facility for COVID-19 vaccines, an official with the Pan American Health Organization said, though the country was still negotiating for doses through other means.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Kuwait has registered its first cases of a more contagious coronavirus variant in two Kuwaiti women who had been in Britain.

* Nigeria will seek to procure vaccines that are less dependent on cooling facilities, as more than 2,600 Nigerian physicians have contracted COVID-19 and dozens have died. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Moderna said it had received a report from California's health department that several people at a centre in San Diego were treated for possible allergic reactions to its COVID-19 vaccine from a particular batch. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian shares climbed to a record high as U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen advocated for a hefty fiscal relief package to help the world's largest economy ride out a pandemic-driven slump. * EU competition regulators plan to extend looser state aid rules until the end of 2021 to help European companies hit by the pandemic.

* Spain will extend a support scheme for hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed due to COVID-19 until May 31.