FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* New Zealand and Australia will create a "travel bubble" without COVID-19 testing or quarantine from April 19. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * The Supreme Committee to Combat Coronavirus in Oman said Omani citizens coming to the Sultanate through various land, sea and air ports will be exempt from the mandatory institutional quarantine but still must quarantine at home. * South Africa signed an agreement with Pfizer Inc for 20 million dual shot vaccine doses, boosting plans to start mass vaccinations from April.

There is a link between AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and very rare blood clots but the causes are still unknown, an official for the European Medicines Agency told an Italian newspaper. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization expects there will be no reason to change its assessment that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 outweigh any risks, its regulatory director said.

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 denied blocking shipments of 3.1 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to Australia, as the bloc steps up scrutiny of vaccine exports to address shortages.

* Britain has not given up on resuming international travel on May 17, but needs to be cautious given rising infections in Europe, the prime minister said. The British government said that 31.622 million people in the United Kingdom had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. * Turkey recorded 49,584 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, health ministry data showed, the highest level since the start of the pandemic.

AMERICAS * President Joe Biden will announce on Tuesday that the U.S. delivered 150 million vaccines since he took office and move up by nearly two weeks a deadline to make doses widely available, according to a person familiar with the matter.

* White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said more than 28 million COVID-19 vaccine doses will be available across distribution channels this week in the United States. * Canada's hospitalizations are surging and its intensive care beds are filling up, as COVID-19 variants and a third wave of the pandemic sweeps across much of the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Younger Canadians are bearing the brunt of the nation's latest COVID-19 surge, creating growing demand for artificial lungs and a struggle to maintain staffing in critical care units.

ASIA-PACIFIC * The Indian capital of New Delhi imposed a night-time curfew until April 30 with much of the country struggling to contain a second surge in infections.

* Indonesia has reported its first case of a more transmissible new variant of the coronavirus known for reducing vaccine protection, but the government said vaccines being used in the country could withstand the mutation. * New Zealand and Australia will create a "travel bubble" without COVID-19 testing or quarantine from April 19.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * The Supreme Committee to Combat Coronavirus in Oman said Omani citizens coming to the Sultanate through various land, sea and air ports will be exempt from the mandatory institutional quarantine but still must quarantine at home.

* South Africa signed an agreement with Pfizer Inc for 20 million dual shot vaccine doses, boosting plans to start mass vaccinations from April. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The University of Oxford said it had paused a small UK trial testing the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with AstraZeneca Plc in children and teenagers, as it waits for more data on rare blood clotting issues in adults who received the shot. * Contract manufacturer Catalent has signed an agreement with Moderna to increase the speed of vaccine production at its U.S. facility.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * U.S. stocks struggled to build on the prior session's record closing highs and Treasury yields edged lower on Tuesday as investors digested recent upbeat data and looked to the Federal Reserve for its economic outlook.

* The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for British economic growth which is set to outpace the euro zone this year after its slump in 2020 but is unlikely to regain its pre-pandemic size until some time in 2022. (Compiled by Milla Nissi, Federico Maccioni and Vinay Dwivedi; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Alison Williams and Anil D'Silva)