FACTBOX-Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

* Brazil has signed a letter of intent with Pfizer Inc for the delivery of more than 70 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. ASIA-PACIFIC * A passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean 'cruise-to-nowhere' from Singapore has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing around 2,000 guests to be quarantined in their cabins and the Quantum of the Seas ship to return to dock on Wednesday. * South Korea reported 686 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as it battles a third wave of infection that is threatening to overwhelm its medical system.

U.S. coronavirus cases crossed 15 million as President-elect Joe Biden vowed to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office and Britain started inoculating people, offering hope of slowing the pandemic.

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

* Poland has bought over 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from six producers, as the country gears up for a vaccination programme early next year. * Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was expected to announce little or no relaxation of lockdown measures for the winter holidays.

* Iceland said it would relax some measures after seeing a slight fall in new infections. AMERICAS

* The Trump administration proposed a $916 billion coronavirus relief package, after congressional Democrats shot down a suggestion for a pared-down plan from the Senate's leading Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. * U.S. President Donald Trump said he would invoke the Defense Production Act if needed to ensure Americans are first in line for domestically produced coronavirus vaccines at a summit designed to give him and his team credit for speedy vaccine development.

* Canada is confident there will be no disruption of COVID-19 vaccine supplies even if the United States blocks their export because vaccines are manufactured in several countries, a government official said. * The pandemic is racing through Canada's remote and rural regions, as isolation, a crucial buffer during the first wave, left their limited healthcare systems vulnerable once the virus arrived.

* Mexico could order an additional 22 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit under a memorandum of understanding signed this week. * Brazil has signed a letter of intent with Pfizer Inc for the delivery of more than 70 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

ASIA-PACIFIC * A passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean 'cruise-to-nowhere' from Singapore has tested positive for COVID-19, forcing around 2,000 guests to be quarantined in their cabins and the Quantum of the Seas ship to return to dock on Wednesday.

* South Korea reported 686 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as it battles a third wave of infection that is threatening to overwhelm its medical system. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Israel will receive a first shipment of Pfizer Inc vaccines on Thursday and will administer them to the elderly and other high-risk populations. * Turkey's daily deaths rose to a record 211 in the last 24 hours, data showed.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * Pfizer cleared the next hurdle in the race to get its vaccine approved for emergency use after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released documents that did not raise any new issues about its safety or efficacy.

* AstraZeneca and Oxford University have more work to do to confirm whether their COVID-19 vaccine can be 90% effective, a peer-reviewed paper in The Lancet showed. * Indonesia's state-owned Bio Farma said the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac could not yet be determined, after previously saying that interim data showed 97% efficacy.

ECONOMIC IMPACT * Asian shares rose to a record high and U.S. stock futures gained, as investors tracked positive news on COVID-19 vaccines and ongoing efforts to launch more fiscal stimulus.

* China's factory gate prices fell at a slower pace in November, adding to signs that the world's second-largest economy is rebounding from the pandemic, but consumer prices unexpectedly declined for the first time in over a decade.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)