OVERVIEW of worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Factbox: Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus As AstraZeneca agreed to publication of its advance purchase agreement with the European Commission which states the company must use its "Best Reasonable Efforts" to manufacture the EU doses, Europe's medicines regulator recommended approving its vaccine for people over... Reuters Staff U.S.

(Reuters) - The European Union stood its ground in a row with AstraZeneca over COVID-19 vaccine supplies on Friday, while Hungary became the bloc’s first member to approve China’s Sinopharm vaccine.

* Scotland will publish COVID-19 detailed vaccine supply data next week even though the British government has so far refused to do so amid a row between the European Union and drug companies such as AstraZeneca over delayed deliveries.

* Norway’s government proposed 16.3 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.9 billion) in extra fiscal spending this year to aid municipalities and businesses struggling as a result of the pandemic, the finance ministry said.

* Ukraine’s parliament approved a bill intended to speed up the approval of vaccines, which also bans the approval of vaccines made in Russia.

* AstraZeneca Plc will file for Japanese approval of its vaccine as early as mid-February, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

* A World Health Organization-led team of experts investigating the origins of COVID-19 visited a hospital in the Chinese city of Wuhan that was one of the first to treat patients in the early days of the outbreak.

* Vietnam’s health minister said a new outbreak was “basically under control” in the areas most affected, as cases spread to Hanoi, the capital, where the ruling Communist Party is holding its five-yearly congress.

* Thailand’s plan to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine locally is on track to be ready to begin mass inoculations in June, with a capacity to make up to 18 million doses per month, a senior official said.

* Bolivian doctors are demanding a nationwide lockdown and threatening to stop taking in new patients as a surge in cases, which they say is killing an average of one medic per day, strains hospitals to breaking point. ...

* Kenya said that it was seeking an extra 11 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, in addition to the 24 million it has already ordered, a senior health ministry official said. ...