FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 81.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23, the CDC said on Tuesday. 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.

The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 81.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23, the CDC said on Tuesday. 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

* China's southern megacity of Shenzhen vowed to "mobilise all resources" to curb a slowly spreading COVID-19 outbreak, ordering strict implementation of testing and temperature checks, and lockdowns for COVID-affected buildings. * Hospital admissions for COVID-19 in Australia have reached a new high for a second straight day, data showed on Tuesday, while the daily death toll rose to its second-highest as an outbreak fuelled by a coronavirus sub-variant sweeps the country.

EUROPE * British health agencies have secured funding to develop a standardised approach to test the performance of vaccines being used or in development against monkeypox, days after the WHO labelled the growing outbreak a global health emergency.

AMERICAS * COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech said it and partner Pfizer have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, seeking a judgment that they did not infringe U.S. patents held by rival CureVac.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * An experimental chewing gum that "traps" SARS-CoV-2 particles in saliva holds promise for curbing transmission of new variants of the virus, according to new data, as researchers prepare to launch the first human trial.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * Taiwan's trade-reliant economy is expected to have expanded on the back of strong global demand for computer chips, though COVID-19 lockdowns in top export market China and a surge in domestic infections could drag on demand, a Reuters poll showed.

(Compiled by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Uttaresh.V; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta and Anil D'Silva)