FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* The United States has delivered over 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for children below 5 years old to administration sites, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said. * California's top state court has agreed to decide whether employers can be held liable under state law when their workers contract COVID-19 on the job and spread it to their relatives.

A "vanishingly small" proportion of COVID-19 funding went to tackling violence against women and girls that spiralled during the pandemic, a United Nations report said. 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

* Beijing reported two new local COVID-19 cases on Thursday as of 3 p.m., a local health official said. * Macau extended its COVID-19 restrictions including the closure of bars, cinemas, hair salons and outdoor parks from Thursday, its chief executive said as the world's biggest gambling hub battles to curb a rise in locally transmitted cases.

EUROPE * Austria is dropping compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for adults saying it is unlikely that the measure, suspended since March, would raise one of western Europe's lowest vaccination rates, Health Minister Johannes Rauch said.

* France is facing a new wave of infections fuelled by new variants of the disease, French vaccination chief Alain Fischer said on Wednesday, as daily new cases reached an almost two-month peak the day before at more than 95,000. AMERICAS

* U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is making more COVID-19 tests available for people who are blind or visually impaired, White House COVID-19 response director Ashish Jha said. * The United States has delivered over 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for children below 5 years old to administration sites, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said.

* California's top state court has agreed to decide whether employers can be held liable under state law when their workers contract COVID-19 on the job and spread it to their relatives. * Nearly one in five American adults who reported having COVID-19 in the past are still having symptoms of long COVID-19, according to survey data collected in the first two weeks of June, U.S. health officials said.

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST * South Africa has repealed COVID-19 rules that made masks mandatory in indoor public spaces, limited the size of gatherings and imposed entry requirements at its borders, the health minister said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * Advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously voted to recommend use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for children and adolescents aged 6 to 17.

* Valneva's COVID-19 vaccine was endorsed by the European Medicines Agency, although the French company's contract with the European Commission to supply the dose hangs in the balance. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Manufacturing growth is slowing worldwide as China's COVID-19 curbs and Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupt supply chains and keep inflation at the highest in years, while the growing risk of a U.S. recession poses a new threat to the global economy. (Compiled by Valentine Baldassari, Uttaresh.V and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Subhranshu Sahu and Shounak Dasgupta)