FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* China's top European business group warned its "zero-COVID" strategy was harming the attractiveness of Shanghai as a financial hub, echoing analysts voicing caution over the mounting economic toll of the country's curbs. * Activity in China's services sector contracted at the sharpest pace in two years in March as a surge in infections restricted mobility and weighed on demand, a private sector survey showed.

Shanghai made concessions on an unpopular COVID isolation policy that has separated children from their parents and sparked a public outcry, but extended a citywide lockdown that has left some residents struggling to buy food. 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

* England recorded its highest ever COVID-19 infection prevalence in March and cases were still increasing in the over-55s at the end of the month, an Imperial College London survey said, adding that Omicron subvariant BA.2 was now dominant. * Spain will lift a requirement to wear face masks indoors except on public transport and in hospitals and retirement homes from April 20.

* Germany will not end mandatory isolation for most people who catch COVID-19, the health minister said, reversing course after concerns were raised that lifting quarantine restrictions would suggest the pandemic was over. ASIA-PACIFIC

* India's first case of coronavirus variant XE was detected in Mumbai, NDTV reported. * Japan plans to lift its entry ban for 106 countries including the United States, Britain and France on Friday, as Tokyo gradually eases restrictions.

* Taiwan is aiming for zero serious COVID-19 infections and an "effective" control of the virus, President Tsai Ing-wen said, responding to a gradual increase in the number of domestic cases as it pledges to keep its reopening on track. * Residents in Shanghai, with 26 million under lockdown, scrambled to secure food, with supermarkets shut and deliveries restricted amid another citywide COVID-19 testing programme.

AMERICAS * Canada's Ontario province said it would start offering a fourth dose of vaccines to people aged 60 and over, as well as to all adults in indigenous households from Thursday.

AFRICA * COVAX, the global project to share COVID-19 vaccines, and the African Union have declined options to buy additional doses of Moderna's shot, as developing nations struggle to allocate supplies.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * China's Kintor Pharmaceutical said its potential COVID-19 treatment proxalutamide effectively reduced the risk of hospitalization and death in a clinical trial involving outpatients with mild to moderate symptoms.

* A fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine lowered rates of COVID-19 among the elderly but the protection against infection appeared short-lived, a large study in Israel found. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* China's cabinet held out the prospect of more measures to support an economy under pressure from a slowing global recovery, volatile commodity markets and COVID-19 outbreaks. * China's top European business group warned its "zero-COVID" strategy was harming the attractiveness of Shanghai as a financial hub, echoing analysts voicing caution over the mounting economic toll of the country's curbs.

* Activity in China's services sector contracted at the sharpest pace in two years in March as a surge in infections restricted mobility and weighed on demand, a private sector survey showed. * India's services sector expanded at its fastest pace so far this year in March as an easing of restrictions boosted demand, but elevated inflationary pressures clouded business confidence, a private survey showed.

(Compiled by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Valentine Baldassari; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Milla Nissi)