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Latest on worldwide spread of coronavirus

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President Jair Bolsonaro has blasted an inquiry into his handling of Brazil's COVID-19 outbreak.
Camera IconPresident Jair Bolsonaro has blasted an inquiry into his handling of Brazil's COVID-19 outbreak. Credit: EPA

EUROPE

* Germany's vaccine taskforce will hold talks with the developers of Russia's Sputnik V shot, including discussing the possibility of setting up more production sites in Germany.

* More than 10 million people in France have now received a first vaccine shot, Prime Minister Jean Castex said.

* Italy's government is preparing a new stimulus package worth more than 30 billion euros ($A46.73 billion) to support its battered economy, driving up this year's budget deficit, a senior treasury official said.

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AMERICAS

* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro blasted a pending inquiry on his handling of a record-breaking COVID-19 outbreak, which global health officials compared to a 'raging inferno'.

* Colombia will allow the private importation of COVID-19 vaccines, but the shots must be free for those being inoculated.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* China's output of vaccines could reach more than three billion doses by the end of 2021, a National Health Commission official said, while the country is also formally considering mixing vaccines to further boost efficacy.

* Thailand plans to install 10,000 field-hospital beds in Bangkok as the country struggles to cope with a third wave of infections.

* South Korea will move ahead with a second-quarter coronavirus vaccination drive starting on Monday as planned after deciding to continue using AstraZeneca's vaccine for all eligible people 30 years old or over.

* Strict lockdowns in the Philippines capital Manila and four adjacent provinces will be eased from April 12.

* Japan has begun vaccinations for its sizeable elderly population, with imported doses still in short supply and the pace unlikely to stop a fourth wave of infection.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Tunisia approved Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, Health Minister Faouzi Mehdi said, and will soon receive 1.5 million doses under an African Union plan.

* Iran has imposed a 10-day lockdown across most of the country.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Europe's drug regulator said it is reviewing rare blood clots in four people in the United States who received Johnson & Johnson's vaccine.

* The China National Biotec Group (CNBG) has obtained regulatory approval to move a third vaccine candidate into the human-testing stage in China.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* The International Monetary Fund said countries in the Middle East and Central Asia need to curb their financing requirements, as a surge in government debt, exacerbated by the pandemic, threatens recovery prospects.

* Japanese bank lending rose 6.3 per cent in March from a year earlier as restaurants and hotels sought more loans to weather the pandemic hit.

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