FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

From Monday South Korea will for the first time tighten coronavirus curbs to the strictest level possible in Seoul and neighboring regions, as alarm spreads with new COVID-19 cases setting a second consecutive daily record nationwide. 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

* Tourism-dependent Portugal imposed stricter rules on Thursday, requiring holidaymakers to show a negative test, a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery to stay in hotels. * Germany plans to declare all of Spain a coronavirus risk area, the Funke group of newspapers reported on Thursday, citing government officials, meaning tourists and returning Germans would need to present a negative test to avoid going into quarantine.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Australian authorities on Friday pleaded with Sydney residents to stay at home, warning a three-week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a COVID-19 outbreak, with the city reporting its the biggest rise in local cases for the year.

* Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday Pfizer will increase vaccine delivery to about one million doses a week from July 19, more than tripling shipments. * Vietnam's capital Hanoi imposed movement restrictions on Thursday to try to keep at bay an expanding coronavirus outbreak, as authorities reported a record rise in cases.

* Flights carrying New Zealanders returning home from Australia's New South Wales region that was scheduled to start on Saturday have been called off after the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney worsened, a New Zealand minister said. AMERICAS

* Cuba said its two-shot Soberana 2 vaccine, delivered with a booster called Soberana Plus, had proven 91.2% effective in late-stage clinical trials against the coronavirus, following similar news about its Abdala vaccine. * Moscow's mayor said the COVID-19 situation was gradually stabilizing after a surge in infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, but the new daily case tally remained high nationwide on Thursday.

* U.S. COVID-19 cases are up around 11% over the previous week, almost entirely among people who have not been vaccinated, officials said on Thursday, as the highly infectious Delta variant becomes the dominant COVID-19 strain in the country. * Mexico aims to complete vaccinations in towns and cities along the U.S. border by August and speed up the reopening of the shared frontier to non-essential travel, the government said.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Libya's new unity government announced it was closing its borders with Tunisia for a week due to the rise in coronavirus cases in the neighboring country, a government spokesman said.

* Zimbabwe received 2 million COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac on Thursday. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Pfizer plans to ask U.S. regulators to authorize a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine within the next month, the drugmaker's top scientist said on Thursday, based on evidence of greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian shares tumbled to two-month lows on Friday and were set for their worst weekly performance since February as confidence took a beating over the global spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and worries it could stall a worldwide economic recovery. * Diverse reasons are driving the rotation in stocks and a slide in bond yields, but weakness in travel, leisure, and other COVID-19-sensitive stocks suggest that fears of the Delta variant are doing their part.