FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Leaders of the Asia-Pacific trade group APEC, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and China's Xi Jinping, pledged to work to expand sharing and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines to fight the global pandemic. 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

* Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'freedom day' ending over a year of lockdown restrictions in England was marred on Monday by surging infections, warnings of supermarket shortages and his own forced self-isolation. Meanwhile, London clubbers flocked to one of the first rule-free live music events since the pandemic began last year, dancing through the night and rejoicing in human interaction. * More than a hundred thousand people marched across France on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to force vaccination of health workers and require a COVID-19 free certificate to enter places such as restaurants and cinemas.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Tokyo 2020 sponsor Toyota will not run Olympics-related TV commercials amid lacklustre public support for the Olympics, with two-thirds of Japanese doubting organisers can keep the Games safe during the pandemic, according to a local media poll.

* South Korea's military has recorded its biggest cluster of infections to date, with more than 80% of personnel aboard a destroyer on anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden testing positive. * Australian authorities said Victoria state would extend a lockdown beyond Tuesday to slow the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, despite a slight drop in new infections in the state and nationwide.

* Taiwan's government approved the emergency use and production of Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp's vaccine candidate, a major step in the island's plans to develop its own vaccines to protect against the coronavirus. * Thailand's COVID-19 task force called on people to follow stricter containment measures, warning that without cooperation record daily infection rates could roughly treble to reach 30,000 under a worst-case scenario.

* Indonesia's central bank will likely keep its key interest rate at a record low this week, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, as policymakers focus on supporting Southeast Asia's biggest economy amid the nation's most severe COVID-19 outbreak yet. AMERICAS

* Cuba, which kept infections low last year, now has the highest rate of contagion per capita in Latin America. That has strained its healthcare sector and helped stoke rare protests that have roiled the Communist-run island. Facebook on Saturday defended itself against U.S. President Joe Biden's assertion that the social media platform is "killing people" by allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to proliferate, saying the facts tell a different story.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Thousands of face-masked pilgrims performing Islam's annual haj pilgrimage gathered on Mount Arafat, in Saudi Arabia, to atone for their sins, expressing hopes for peace and an end to the pandemic.

* Saudi citizens will need two vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom from Aug. 9, state news agency SPA reported, citing the ministry of interior. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The European medicines regulator said on Monday it is evaluating an application to use arthritis drug, Kineret, to treat COVID-19 in adult patients with pneumonia who are at risk of developing severe respiratory failure. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Risk-aversion ruled on Monday as a surge in worldwide coronavirus cases pushed down bond yields and left stocks facing their longest losing streak since the pandemic first hit global markets 18 months ago. * Australia's financial regulator on Monday announced relief measures for banks offering support to borrowers hurt by the pandemic, as the country battles this year's worst outbreak with nearly half the population confined to their homes.

(Compiled by Federico Maccioni and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Arun Koyyur and Tomasz Janowski)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)