FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it has granted full approval to Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents aged between 12 and 15 years. 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's city government has dropped plans to allow only vaccinated people to enter crowded venues such as libraries, cinemas and gyms from Monday, following a strong online backlash to the measure announced earlier this week. * China's commercial hub Shanghai faces a "relatively high" risk of further community transmission of COVID-19, Lei Zhenglong, an official at the National Health Commission, said.

EUROPE * Russia has registered a total of 815,267 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in the country in April 2020, the state statistics service Rosstat said.

* British police said opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer and his deputy would not be fined following an investigation into whether they had broken COVID-19 lockdown laws by pausing for a meal while working. * England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy has left their European Championship camp after testing positive for COVID-19, the team said on Friday.

AMERICAS * The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it authorized state-licensed pharmacists to prescribe Pfizer's COVID-19 pill Paxlovid to eligible patients, in a bid to improve access to the treatment.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST * South Africa's Afrigen Biologics Limited said that it will collaborate with U.S. government researchers to develop mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.

* Africa's top public health body said on Thursday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Pfizer for countries on the continent to receive supplies of the Paxlovid pill to treat COVID-19. MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Less than a month after a hard-won deal was reached on a partial waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, a fresh battle may be looming at the World Trade Organization over extending the waiver to treatments and tests. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Italy's labour market was hit harder than those of most of its European Union peers during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 and 2021, widening the employment gap compared with the EU average, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Friday. (Compiled by Shailesh Kuber and Amy Caren Daniel; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Sriraj Kalluvila)