FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

More than 141.47 million people have been reported as having been infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 3,159,601​ have died, according to a Reuters tally. 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 has exercised an option to acquire an additional 100 million doses of BioNTech and Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, the two companies said. * British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled a planned trip to India, scheduled to take place next week, saying it was a sensible move in light of a surge in infections there.

* Austria will only use Russia's Sputnik V vaccine once the European Medicines Agency has approved it, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, amid growing public frustration with the pace of vaccinations. * A Hungarian pastry shop has launched a range of COVID-19 vaccine-themed sweet mousses as a light-hearted antidote to angst over the different types of vaccines and the implications of receiving one or another of them.

AMERICAS * Schools in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires will open after all on Monday morning after a court over-ruled a federal order requiring classes go on-line for two weeks amid a surge in cases that has brought hospitals to near collapse.

* Just more than half of U.S. adults have now received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, with nearly 130 million people aged 18 years or more having received their first shot. ASIA-PACIFIC

* India's capital region of Delhi ordered a six-day lockdown as daily cases nationwide hit a new record and the health system crumbled under the weight of new infections. * A recent surge in cases could see major parts of Japan slide back into states of emergency with authorities in Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs, while quarantine-free travel started between Australia and New Zealand for the first time in more than a year.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Prominent Syrian dissident Michel Kilo, a writer who was jailed for opposing the country's leadership, had died in France from COVID-19, opposition politicians said.

* Vaccination against COVID-19 is a requirement to perform the Umra pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi state TV said on Sunday, citing a government official. * Turkey on Sunday has recorded 318 deaths from COVID-19 in the space of a day, its highest daily total so far.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked Emergent BioSolutions Inc to halt producing new materials for COVID-19 vaccines until the regulator completes an inspection of its plant in Baltimore.

* Russian scientist Denis Logunov, a lead developer of the Sputnik V vaccine, said that the shot had proven itself 97.6% effective against COVID-19 in a real-world assessment, based on data from 3.8 million people. * Germany's CureVac filed in Switzerland for a rolling review of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

* The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can break through the protection provided by Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* World shares hit record highs in the European session on Monday, as markets were generally upbeat about the prospects for a global economic recovery from COVID-19, ahead of a busy week for earnings. * The number of people heading out to shops across Britain jumped 87.8% in the week to April 17 versus the previous week as non-essential stores in England reopened after three months of lockdown, market researcher Springboard said.

(Compiled by Anita Kobylinska and Federico Maccioni; Edited by Kirsten Donovan)