FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* India's tally of daily COVID-19 cases nearly doubled on Monday from the previous day to more than 2,000 for the first time in a month, government data showed, and the southern state of Kerala reported a big jump in deaths. * Talks on Taiwan buying the child version of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have stalled as Pfizer does not have the right to sell it and BioNTech and its Chinese partner do not make it.

FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

A federal judge in Florida said on Monday a U.S. mask mandate on public transportation is unlawful, overturning the Biden administration's efforts to curb a recent rise in COVID-19 cases. 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

* Manufacturers including Tesla began preparing to reopen their Shanghai plants as China's most populous city speeds up efforts to get back to normal after a nearly three-week COVID shutdown. * India's tally of daily COVID-19 cases nearly doubled on Monday from the previous day to more than 2,000 for the first time in a month, government data showed, and the southern state of Kerala reported a big jump in deaths.

* Talks on Taiwan buying the child version of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have stalled as Pfizer does not have the right to sell it and BioNTech and its Chinese partner do not make it. * Almost all residents of Indonesia's most populous island of Java have antibodies against COVID-19, owing to a combination of prior infection and vaccination against the virus, a government-commissioned survey showed.

* South Korea lifted almost all of its COVID-19 precautions in a major step towards a return to normal life as the Omicron variant recedes and daily infections retreated to a more than two-month low of fewer than 50,000. EUROPE

* Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has tested positive for COVID-19 and ministers will replace him on a trip to Africa this week for deals to cut his country's reliance on Russian gas, his office said. AMERICAS

* The U.S. CDC said it had dropped its "Do Not Travel" COVID-19 recommendations for about 90 international destinations. AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

* Africa is experiencing its longest-running decline in weekly COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization said. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* A Japanese Health Ministry committee said it has approved Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, setting the stage for full approval of the country's fourth shot for the coronavirus. * Reports of two patients who found relief from long COVID after taking Pfizer Inc's antiviral Paxlovid, including a researcher who tested it on herself, provide intriguing evidence for clinical trials to help those suffering from the debilitating condition, experts and advocates say.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * The International Monetary Fund expects members to make "significant" pledges of support for its newly approved Resilience and Sustainability Trust during the IMF-World Bank spring meetings beginning this week.

(Compiled by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Krishna Chandra Eluri; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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