FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* Pakistan recorded more than 200 deaths in a day for the first time since the start of the pandemic. AMERICAS * AstraZeneca's vaccine is safe and Canadians should have confidence in it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, reacting to news that a woman had died of a rare blood clot after being inoculated. * Chile has designated pregnant women a COVID-19 vaccination priority and this week began issuing Pfizer doses to those with underlying health issues in their second or third trimester.

Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to begin at the weekend as the country's toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen. 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

* European Union lawyers demanded AstraZeneca immediately deliver COVID-19 vaccines from its factories in Britain, in a move that risks reigniting a spat with London over scarce vaccine supplies. * EU countries introducing their own COVID vaccination certificates will have to grapple with a myriad of disjointed systems if the bloc fails to build a shared one, a senior official said.

* The coronavirus situation is improving in France and President Emmanuel Macron will outline on Friday how restrictions will be progressively relaxed, Prime Minister Jean Castex said. * Britain plans to use a National Health Service phone app as its COVID-19 'vaccine passport' certificate that will allow its population to travel internationally this summer, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.

* Switzerland might allow events with up to 3,000 spectators from July, the government said, although such events would be restricted to attendees who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, can prove they've recovered from the illness or test negative. * Cyprus is offering hassle-free holidays to fully vaccinated individuals from 65 countries from May 10 as it seeks to recoup lost ground from the pandemic.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Japan has only used about a fifth of the vaccine doses it has imported so far, government data showed, underscoring logistical hurdles such as a shortage of medical staff.

* Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics announced tougher coronavirus countermeasures such as daily testing of athletes to try to reassure an increasingly sceptical Japanese public already facing a resurgence of COVID-19. * Pakistan recorded more than 200 deaths in a day for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

AMERICAS * AstraZeneca's vaccine is safe and Canadians should have confidence in it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, reacting to news that a woman had died of a rare blood clot after being inoculated.

* Chile has designated pregnant women a COVID-19 vaccination priority and this week began issuing Pfizer doses to those with underlying health issues in their second or third trimester. * Mexico will produce Russia's Sputnik V vaccine domestically, its foreign minister said on a visit to Moscow.

* Brazil's health minister said the country would receive 1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is not likely to reach deals with COVID vaccine makers to co-produce the vaccines although discussions are still ongoing, chief executive Kare Schultz told Reuters. * Tunisia said it will impose a week's quarantine on all visitors from May 3 and continue to suspend schools until May 16 to slow the spread of COVID-19.

* Kenya said it was suspending flights to and from India after midnight on Saturday amid the coronavirus surge in that country. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Moderna Inc said the U.S. government had agreed to increase the contract for the company's COVID-19 vaccine by $236 million to roughly $1.25 billion, to include additional costs related to the shot's studies. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* World shares cosied up close to record highs and the dollar and global bond yields nudged up on Wednesday, as traders waited to see if the U.S. Federal Reserve utters the dreaded 'T' word later - tapering of its mass stimulus programme. (Compiled by Federico Maccioni and Juliette Portala; Edited by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood)