FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* Malaysia lifted a travel ban on eight southern African countries that had been among the first to report the Omicron variant, citing the greater spread of the variant worldwide, and cut the wait time for booster vaccine doses. EUROPE * France will pay intensive care nurses an extra 100 euros per month from January as it seeks to improve work conditions for staff exhausted by the fight against COVID-19. * Confirmed cases in Greece are expected to hit a fresh daily record on Tuesday, topping 15,000, after the country announced tighter curbs a day earlier.

India approved https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-committee-recommends-eua-mercks-covid-19-pill-two-other-vaccines-report-2021-12-28 Merck's COVID-19 pill and two more vaccines for emergency use as the world's second most populous country braces for a possible spike in cases, while research by South African scientists suggested Omicron could displace the Delta https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/safrica-study-suggests-omicron-enhances-neutralizing-immunity-against-delta-2021-12-28 variant because infection with the new variant boosts immunity to the older one. 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 ASIA-PACIFIC

* Japanese officials in the western city of Osaka have confirmed a cluster cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Kyodo news agency reported. * Bangladesh began administering coronavirus vaccine booster shots as the South Asian country tries to fend off the highly contagious Omicron variant.

* China's local coronavirus cases rose for a fourth day, with the majority of infections reported by Xian, a northwestern city that has put its 13 million people under lockdown. * Malaysia lifted a travel ban on eight southern African countries that had been among the first to report the Omicron variant, citing the greater spread of the variant worldwide, and cut the wait time for booster vaccine doses.

EUROPE * France will pay intensive care nurses an extra 100 euros per month from January as it seeks to improve work conditions for staff exhausted by the fight against COVID-19.

* Confirmed cases in Greece are expected to hit a fresh daily record on Tuesday, topping 15,000, after the country announced tighter curbs a day earlier. AMERICAS

* Rising cases and bad weather caused airlines to cancel more than 1,000 flights within or into and out of the United States on Monday, as the spread of the Omicron variant prompted the U.S. government's top infectious disease expert to suggest the government consider mandating vaccines for domestic flights. * President Joe Biden pledged to ease a shortage of COVID-19 tests as the Omicron variant threatened to overwhelm hospitals and stifle travel plans.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * The United Arab Emirates approved emergency use of Sinopharm's protein-based vaccine and it will be available to the public as a booster dose starting January.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * China's Kintor faced a temporary setback as interim analysis for a late-stage trial for its potential COVID-19 pill did not yield sufficient data due to the lack of hospitalised cases.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * European and Asian stocks inched higher, helped by another record-setting day on Wall Street and after Britain and France held off from imposing more COVID curbs before year-end.

* Oil prices extended gains with prices trading near the previous day's one-month high on hopes that the Omicron variant will have a limited impact on fuel demand. (Compiled by Jagoda Darlak and Milla Nissi; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta and Louise Heavens)

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