FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* China stocks ended higher, as Shanghai achieved a key COVID-19-related milestone required to ease restrictions, while tech giants and Hong Kong shares logged the biggest jump in six weeks. * Beijing's economy took a hit in April as authorities wrestled with a new COVID outbreak, telling residents to avoid going out or work from home and halting many businesses.

A senior World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that high levels of transmission of the coronavirus among unvaccinated people, such as in North Korea, creates a higher risk of new variants. 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

* Indonesia will drop requirements for people to mask up outdoors and for vaccinated travellers to show negative pre-departure tests, officials said on Tuesday. * Shanghai achieved the long-awaited milestone of three consecutive days with no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine zones.

* Measures taken in North Korea to fight the first reported COVID-19 outbreak could have "devastating" consequences for human rights in the country, a spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office said. * North Korea has mobilised its military to distribute COVID medications and deployed more than 10,000 health workers to help trace potential patients, state media KCNA said.

* North Korea has sent aircraft to China to pick up medical supplies days after it confirmed its first COVID-19 outbreak, media reported. * Japan said it would start conducting "test tourism" in the form of limited package tours in May as a way of gathering information prior to a full re-opening of the country to tourism.

EUROPE * European shares jumped 1.5% on Tuesday on hopes that demand in China could be sustained as authorities looked to relax COVID-19 restrictions.

AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE-EAST Qatar's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund plans to invest in Spanish projects funded by European Union COVID recovery funds under a deal due to be signed during the Gulf state ruler's visit to Madrid this week, Spanish government sources said.

AMERICAS * U.S. inmates released to home confinement under the terms of a law passed by Congress to slow the spread of COVID-19 have challenged orders to return to prison.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of a booster shot of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11.

* AstraZeneca moved to bolster its COVID-19 portfolio of antibodies with a $157 million licensing deal for experimental therapies developed by newly-launched biotech RQ Bio. ECONOMIC IMPACT * Longer-dated Japanese government bond yields ticked higher on Tuesday as optimism for an end to coronavirus lockdowns in China buoyed market sentiment. * China stocks ended higher, as Shanghai achieved a key COVID-19-related milestone required to ease restrictions, while tech giants and Hong Kong shares logged the biggest jump in six weeks.

* Beijing's economy took a hit in April as authorities wrestled with a new COVID outbreak, telling residents to avoid going out or work from home and halting many businesses. * China's slowing economy will struggle to stage the kind of stunning recovery it achieved from the early depths of the pandemic two years ago, as its formidable export machine teeters and options to revive investment and consumption dwindle.

* China's strict COVID-19 controls will hamper foreign investment into the country for years to come as limits on travel block the pipeline for projects, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce warned. * Thailand's economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter supported by a pickup in agriculture and an easing of COVID-19 curbs, but higher inflation remained a drag on a fragile recovery.

(Compiled by Dina Kartit, Aditya Soni and Devika Syamnath; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Subhranshu Sahu and Ed Osmond)

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