Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Reuters) – Japan will extend emergency restrictions in Tokyo and other regions until the end of this month, while media reports suggested fully vaccinated residents in Australia’s Sydney might be freed from stay-at-home orders by the end of October.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* Germany is extending its COVID-19 emergency aid for struggling companies by three months until the end of this year, the finance and economy ministries said.

* People will need to show a COVID-status certificate to enter bars, restaurants and fitness centres in Switzerland from Monday.

* About 2,000 Bulgarian restaurant and club owners, waiters, bartenders and gym instructors protested in the centre of the capital Sofia on Wednesday against newly imposed restrictions.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Sydney’s cafes, restaurants and pubs are set to reopen in the second half of October after months of strict lockdown.

* Around a quarter of a million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine bought from Spain will arrive in New Zealand this week.

* The Asian Youth Games, which were to be held in Shantou city in China’s southern Guangdong province in November, have been postponed to December 2022 due to the pandemic.

AMERICAS

* Dozens of Honduran migrants received vaccines in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula on Wednesday.

* Countries in the Americas should prioritize pregnant and lactating women in the distribution of COVID-19 shots, the Pan American Health Organization said.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* South Africa has set a Nov. 1 date for municipal elections, after a court last week rejected a request to delay them until early next year to allow more time for COVID-19 vaccinations.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined Humanigen’s request for emergency use authorization of its lenzilumab drug to treat newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

* Brazil’s federal health regulator said documents provided by a Sao Paulo biomedical centre attesting to the safety of over 12 million doses of the Coronavac vaccine were insufficient to ensure their safety.

* Novavax has initiated an early-stage study to test its combined flu and COVID-19 vaccine.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian shares dropped Thursday, while the dollar held firm, in line with a cautious global mood as investors worried about the combination of slowing global growth and the potential tapering of central bank stimulus. [MKTS/GLOB]

* China’s factory-gate inflation hit a 13-year high in August driven by soaring raw materials prices despite Beijing’s attempts to cool them.

* Several Federal Reserve policymakers have signalled that the U.S. central bank remains on track to trim its massive asset purchases this year.

* British employers are facing the most severe shortage of job candidates on record due to the post-lockdown surge in the economy and Brexit, a recruiters’ body said.

* Taiwan plans to issue “stimulus coupons” again to boost consumer spending by T$200 billion ($7.22 billion) and support its coronavirus-hit economy