FACTBOX-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Data showed the U.S. economy contracted at its deepest pace since World War Two in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic depressed consumer spending and business investment, while the first cases of the South African variant were detected in South Carolina.

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 * AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine should only be given to people aged between 18 and 64, Germany's vaccine committee recommended, a day ahead of a decision by European regulators on whether to approve the drugmaker's shot.

* Denmark will extend its current coronavirus restrictions by three weeks in order to curb the spread of a more contagious coronavirus variant first registered in Britain. * Portugal extended a nationwide lockdown until mid-February and announced curbs on international travel.

* A shortage of COVID-19 vaccines has forced Paris and two other regions that together account for a third of the French population to postpone giving out some first doses. ASIA-PACIFIC

* India's prime minister said the country would release more locally made vaccines as New Delhi continues to save lives in other countries by exporting medicines and vaccines. * Vietnam's worst single-day coronavirus outbreak, its first cases for nearly two months, gatecrashed the Communist Party's coronation congress.

* A World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of the pandemic left quarantine in Wuhan to begin field work, two weeks after arriving. AMERICAS

* Canadian provinces protested about a likely shortfall in deliveries of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, but the federal government insisted the U.S. drugmaker would live up to its commitments. * Chile received a first shipment of almost two million Sinovac vaccine doses and plans to roll it out across the country next week.

* Russia dispatched 240,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses, with most heading to Argentina and the rest bound for Bolivia. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Morocco started a national coronavirus vaccination campaign after receiving vaccine shipments from AstraZeneca and Sinopharm. * The African Union secured another 400 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine in a push to immunize 60% of the continent's population over a three-year period.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * The EU is recommending a second dose of Pfizer's vaccine be given three weeks after the first, as countries look to stretch scarce supplies.

* AstraZeneca is prepared to publish its EU vaccine contract, FAZ reported. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Wall Street rallied as investors looked past weak U.S. GDP and jobless claims data to hopes of a rosier economy ahead and welcomed restrictions on this week's social media-driven trading frenzy. * The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will begin moving forward next week on President Joe Biden's plan to deliver a fresh infusion of COVID-19 relief to Americans and businesses reeling from the pandemic, top Democrats said.

* Global debt likely reached 98% of economic output at end-2020 as governments poured in nearly $14 trillion in fiscal support, the IMF said, while urging that fiscal support stay in place until recovery is firmly underway. (Compiled by Aditya Soni and Sarah Morland; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Sriraj Kalluvila)