FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* After splurging on the pandemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to address Britain's creaking social care system and will set out a tax hike to pay for the soaring cost of caring for elderly and disabled people. ASIA-PACIFIC * Singapore's health ministry recorded the highest daily number of new infections in more than a year. * Thailand's cabinet approved an additional 17 billion baht ($521.5 million) of financial support for people affected by restrictions, a government spokesman said.

As COVID-19 cases and deaths exploded in India in April and May, New Delhi's premier Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and several others ran so short of oxygen that many patients in the capital suffocated. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news EUROPE

* The European Commission announced the rules governing its green bond program and said it plans the first such issuance backing its coronavirus recovery fund in October. * After splurging on the pandemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to address Britain's creaking social care system and will set out a tax hike to pay for the soaring cost of caring for elderly and disabled people.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Singapore's health ministry recorded the highest daily number of new infections in more than a year.

* Thailand's cabinet approved an additional 17 billion baht ($521.5 million) of financial support for people affected by restrictions, a government spokesman said. * Indonesia's daily coronavirus positivity rate dropped below the World Health Organization's benchmark standard of 5% this week for the first time.

* Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said some residents from China and Macau will be allowed to enter the city without undergoing quarantine from Sept. 15. AMERICAS

* Peruvian President Pedro Castillo said on Monday the government had reached an agreement with Russia to install a plant to produce the Sputnik V vaccine. * The Chilean health regulator on Monday approved the vaccine produced by China's Sinovac Biotech for use in children over six years of age.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Conflict, drought and the coronavirus pandemic have rendered 18 million Afghans in need of humanitarian assistance, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

* Government workers in Zimbabwe who do not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should resign, the country's justice minister said. * The governor of Rivers State in Nigeria's Delta region said he may be forced to reimpose lockdown measures if residents did not comply with prevention protocols.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * Indonesia has approved the vaccines produced by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, part of Johnson & Johnson, and by China's CanSino Biological for emergency use, the country's food and drug agency said.

* Japan has selected three candidates for COVID-19 treatments to receive subsidies for clinical trials, the health ministry said. * COVID-19 vaccine makers ought to make their approved shots available for trials to help speed the development of more vaccines, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations said.

* A Chinese study showed receiving a booster shot of CanSino Biologics vaccine after one or two doses of Sinovac Biotech's vaccine yielded a much stronger antibody response than using the Sinovac shot as a booster. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* World stocks held near record levels supported by bets the U.S. Federal Reserve will push back tapering its bond purchases and keep its expansive policy for the near-term. * China's exports unexpectedly grew at a faster pace in August thanks to solid global demand, helping take some of the pressure off the world's second-biggest economy.

* French savers have begun to shift the piles of cash they built up under restrictions towards more risky investments as the crisis eases, the central bank said. * Italy's Treasury sees the 2021 budget deficit coming in at under 10% of national output, well below the 11.8% target set in April, a source close to the matter said.

($1 = 32.6000 baht)