FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The organisers announced 12 new positive cases overall, including the two athletes, bringing the total to 87. * Japan's prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, is preparing to negotiate directly with the chief executive of Pfizer as soon as this week for early delivery of 20 million vaccine doses, domestic media reported.

China rejected a World Health Organization plan for the second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said. 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

* Hundreds of people protested in Paris against the introduction of a health pass for some activities and against compulsory vaccinations for health workers as the government seeks to curb the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in France. * Staff in England's National Health Service, who have been on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic, will receive a 3% pay rise, the British government said.

* Russia is aiming for 80% COVID-19 herd immunity by November, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said, despite its relatively slow vaccination rate. * Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds protesting against coronavirus vaccinations in Athens.

ASIA-PACIFIC * India reported 41,383 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, while daily deaths rose by 507, health ministry data showed.

* Coronavirus cases in Australia spiked again, despite a weeks-long lockdown, with authorities warning that infections would rise more and take a toll on the economy as the country battles to contain the highly contagious Delta variant. * Tokyo 2020 Olympic organisers said on Thursday two athletes residing in the Olympic village tested positive for COVID-19. The organisers announced 12 new positive cases overall, including the two athletes, bringing the total to 87.

* Japan's prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, is preparing to negotiate directly with the chief executive of Pfizer as soon as this week for early delivery of 20 million vaccine doses, domestic media reported. * A major Taiwanese Buddhist group said it had signed a deal to buy 5 million doses of BioNTech's vaccine via the German firm's Chinese sales agent, bumping the island's order for the shot up to 15 million doses.

AMERICAS * The Americas are facing a pandemic of the unvaccinated, the Pan American Health Organization said, as it warned that countries with low inoculation rates are seeing increases in COVID-19 and repeated a call for vaccine donations.

* U.S. President Joe Biden said that children under 12 may be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination by the end of August or the beginning of September. * The U.S. government extended the closure of land borders with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel such as tourism through Aug. 21 even as officials debate whether to require visitors to have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * South Africa aims to have given at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 35 million of its 60 million people by Christmas, a senior health official said.

* Tunisian President Kais Saied said the military health department will take over management of the health crisis in the country amid a COVID-19 outbreak, an escalation of a battle that overpowers the prime minister. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Pfizer and BioNTech have struck a deal for South Africa's Biovac Institute to help manufacture around 100 million doses a year of their COVID-19 vaccine for the African Union, the firms said. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian stocks rallied on Thursday, bonds nursed losses and oil held onto sharp gains as investors seemed to set aside virus jitters for now and looked ahead to the European Central Bank for reassurance that policy support will continue for some time.