FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The chairman of the Gavi vaccine alliance said on Wednesday that an additional $5.2 billion is needed to continue to deliver COVID-19 vaccines at scale, as more than 3 billion people in the world have yet to receive their first dose. 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

* Betting Omicron cases have peaked, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson dropped COVID-19 rules in England, as he faces a revolt by his own lawmakers who are angry over a series of lockdown parties in Downing Street. * Spain's COVID-19 infection rate fell for the second day in a row after 11 weeks of surges to record highs, raising hope among health authorities that the frenetic spread of the Omicron variant may be slowing.

ASIA-PACIFIC * The Indian drug regulator's subject expert committee recommended full approval for Covishield and Covaxin, the two COVID-19 vaccines that have dominated the country's inoculation drive.

AMERICAS * Infections continue to accelerate in the Americas, reaching new peaks, with 7.2 million new cases and more than 15,000 deaths in the last week, the Pan American Health Organization said.

* People who had previously been infected with COVID-19 were better protected against the Delta variant than those who were vaccinated alone, suggesting that natural immunity was a more potent shield than vaccines against that variant, California and New York health officials said. * The U.S. government will make 400 million non-surgical "N95" masks from its strategic national stockpile available for free to the public starting next week, a White House official said.

* The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unusual joint statement from liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor and conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch denying a rift between them over wearing a face mask during oral arguments to protect against COVID-19. * The Canadian province of Ontario is starting to see "glimmers of hope" as the rate of new hospitalisations caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus slows, but challenges remain, health minister Christine Elliott said.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST * South African-American businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong opened a new vaccine plant in Cape Town, intended to help his local NantSA company make COVID-19 shots in future and address the continent's deadly dearth of manufacturing capacity.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * When used in children, rapid antigen tests for detecting the coronavirus do not meet accuracy criteria set by the World Health Organization and U.S. and UK device regulators, according to researchers who reviewed 17 studies of the tests.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * Strong U.S. and European corporate results helped stock markets initially rebound on Wednesday, but rising crude prices kept inflation concerns alive and trading choppy even as bond yields eased after having touched fresh multiyear highs.

* Canada's Liberal government no longer needs to spend all of the stimulus it promised to help fight COVID-19 and if it does, the debt-to-GDP ratio will rise, an official spending watchdog said. (Compiled by Sarah Morland, Marta Frackowiak and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Sriraj Kalluvila)