FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Australia's New South Wales said on Monday the next two days would be "absolutely critical" in deciding whether a two-week anti-coronavirus lockdown in Sydney, set to end on July 9, will have to be extended amid rising Delta variant cases.

Australia's New South Wales said on Monday the next two days would be "absolutely critical" in deciding whether a two-week anti-coronavirus lockdown in Sydney, set to end on July 9, will have to be extended amid rising Delta variant cases. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

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* The wearing of face coverings in England will become a personal choice and the data that will determine if lockdown restrictions can be lifted this month was looking "very positive", Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said on Sunday. * Greece's economy would not close again because of the pandemic if it was just to protect an unvaccinated minority, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a newspaper interview released on Sunday.

* Health Minister Olivier Veran on Sunday urged as many French people as possible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, warning that France could be heading for a fourth wave of the pandemic by the end of the month due to the highly transmissible Delta variant. * Bulgaria is considering offering incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, interim Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said on Sunday.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Health authorities in Ruili, a Chinese city in the southwestern province of Yunnan bordering Myanmar, reported three locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Monday from the day prior.

* The mortuary at Fiji's largest hospital is now full, the country's health ministry said on Monday, as the Pacific island nation logs record daily coronavirus cases. * Thailand plans to allow some construction projects to resume in its capital and surrounding provinces although most sites and workers' camps will remain closed as the Southeast Asian country deals with its biggest outbreak to date.

* Indonesia has ordered oxygen makers to prioritise medical needs amid growing demand from COVID-19 patients, the government said on Sunday, following more than 60 deaths in a hospital where supply of the life-saving gas was almost exhausted. AMERICAS

* Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he will give the COVAX system an ultimatum this week to send the country's share of coronavirus vaccines as all pending payments had been made to the global vaccine-sharing scheme. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* The United Arab Emirates has approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, the fifth vaccine to receive such approval by the Gulf Arab state, the health ministry said in a statement to state news agency WAM on Sunday. * Israel is in talks with other countries about a deal to unload its surplus of Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccines, doses of which are due to expire by the end of the month, officials said on Sunday.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * A lack of side effects after receiving an mRNA vaccine does not mean the immune system has failed to respond, and such a type of shot limits rare breakthrough infections, researchers have found.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * Most Asian stocks gained on Monday, extending the rally that took global equities to a record high after a U.S. jobs report signalled the economic recovery remained intact but didn't yet warrant any immediate withdrawal of Federal Reserve stimulus.

* Growth in China's June services sector slowed sharply to a 14-month low, after a resurgence of COVID-19 in southern China, a private survey showed on Monday.