FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

New coronavirus infections in India reached a record high on Wednesday while the country's richest state Maharashtra imposed stringent curbs on industry and e-commerce for 15 days to slow rising cases. 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 Commission is seeking clarification from Johnson & Johnson about the company's "completely unexpected" announcement of delays in vaccine deliveries to the EU. * Belgium will continue vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson jab for the moment, while the Dutch medicines regulator said the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the possible risks.

* Norway will start to unwind some restrictions and allow more people to gather from Friday, while the Dutch government extended most pandemic lockdown restrictions including a nighttime curfew. * The rate of new COVID-19 infections in Sweden has jumped to the second-highest in Europe after land-locked San Marino, as the Scandinavian country which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic faced a third wave of cases.

AMERICAS * U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine for at least a few days after six women under age 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot.

* Pfizer can deliver 10% more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the United States by the end of May and meet its target of supplying 300 million doses two weeks earlier than expected, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a tweet. * White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said the United States has more than enough vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna to keep up the pace of vaccinations during a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson's shot.

* Mexico aims to have developed a vaccine against COVID-19 that could be granted approval for emergency use this year, a senior official said. * Canada said it was talking to Johnson & Johnson about reports that its vaccine might cause rare blood clots, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a surge in dangerous virus variants could threaten progress made so far.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Australia's federal government and states will discuss setting up mass vaccination centres from as early as June for people above 50, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, when the country would have moved to its next immunisation phase.

* India on Tuesday said it will fast-track emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines authorised by Western countries and Japan, paving the way for possible imports of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna shots. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced new restrictions for the first two weeks of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to contain surging infections. * South Africa has suspended the rollout of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, after U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing its use because of rare cases of blood clots.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * China's CanSino Biologics Inc said no serious blood clot cases related to its COVID-19 vaccine had been reported so far.

* A UK study into using different COVID-19 vaccines in two-dose inoculations is being expanded to include shots made by Moderna and Novavax, researchers said. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global equity markets rose to a record high on Wednesday as bond yields eased after data showed U.S. inflation was not rising wildly. (Compiled by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Devika Syamnath and Anita Kobylinska; Edited by Lisa Shumaker, Anil D'Silva and Subhranshu Sahu)