A record surge in coronavirus cases in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink of capacity and killing up to 1,000 people a day, with cases crossing the 9 million mark on Friday, according to a Reuters tally.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, open https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/ in an external browser.
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
EUROPE
* Britain said its "tiered" approach to reining in the coronavirus appears to be working as European Union neighbours France and Germany prepared new controls on gatherings almost as strict as their spring lockdowns.
* Italy registered a record 31,084 infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.
* Authorities in Moscow were preparing for mass vaccinations against COVID-19 and Russia's daily tally of infections rose past 18,000 to a record high amid a shortage of doctors across the country.
* Infections are rocketing across the Western Balkans with hospitals close to being overwhelmed by incoming patients.
* Poland's prime minister has ordered six big Polish state-run companies to create field hospitals to cope with the pandemic.
* Hungary's first shipment of coronavirus vaccine is expected to arrive in late December or early January, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
* Spain's Canary Islands passed a law requiring tourists visiting the archipelago's hotels to present a negative COVID-19 test result as part of efforts to prevent imported infections.
* The World Health Organization should be given more powers to handle pandemics and its member states should share more information with the agency during health emergencies, European Union officials said.
AMERICAS
* U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said any new coronavirus aid package should be considered in early 2021, possibly closing the door to such legislation shortly following the Nov. 3 election.
* Canadians need to do more to tackle a second wave of the coronavirus by slashing the number of personal contacts they have with others, health authorities said.
* Canadian government's fiscal update will offer targeted aid to sectors hard hit by the pandemic when it is unveiled later this year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Australian officials said on Friday there were just under 200 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, the lowest number in more than four months and well down from a peak of just over 8,000 in mid-August.
* India saw a daily spurt of 48,648 infections, taking its tally to 8.09 million, health ministry data showed on Friday.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Iran's confirmed cases crossed the 600,000 threshold on Friday with 8,011 infections identified in the past 24 hours.
* Kenya has joined the global clinical trial of Oxford University's vaccine candidate against the coronavirus.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Britain's health regulator has started accelerated reviews for vaccine candidates from Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> and AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, according to a Bloomberg News report.
* If all goes well, the first doses of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine will likely become available to some high-risk Americans in late December or early January, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Stocks across the globe resumed their slide on Friday and oil headed for a double-digit weekly fall on continued concern over the economic impact of rising global coronavirus infections. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Growing infection numbers are putting at risk the prospects for continued economic recovery in Italy and the euro zone as a whole, Bank of Italy Governor said.
(Compiled by Milla Nissi, Amy Caren Daniel and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Jane Merriman and Shounak Dasgupta)
