Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

(Reuters) - Around 25 million children around the world missed out on routine vaccinations last year that protect against life-threatening diseases, as the knock-on effects of the pandemic continue to disrupt health care globally.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called a snap meeting of federal and state leaders next week as he faces pressure to reinstate compensation pay for casual workers forced to isolate due to COVID-19 amid a fresh wave of infections.

* The International Monetary Fund said China needs to add more fiscal and monetary policy support to combat an economic slowdown brought on by continued COVID-19 lockdowns, but less-restrictive pandemic containment policies also were needed.

EUROPE

* An estimated 3.5 million people in Britain had COVID-19 in the latest week of available data, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday, up nearly 30% on the 2.7 million recorded in the previous week.

* England women's team head coach Sarina Wiegman has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss their final Women's European Championship group match against Northern Ireland on Friday, the team said.

* The Czech Republic will begin offering a second COVID-19 boosters from July 18, recommending the shot for people over 60 and those in risk groups, the Health Ministry said.

AMERICAS

* Canada authorized Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for babies as young as 6 months old, making it the country's first vaccine against coronavirus for children under 5, Health Canada said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS* Patients with long COVID may see some improvement after breathing pure oxygen in a high-air-pressure environment, according to data from a small Israeli trial.

* The European Medicines Agency identified severe allergic reactions as potential side-effects of Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the shot.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Shanghai's economy shrank 13.7% in the second quarter from a year earlier following the citywide COVID-related lockdowns, the biggest contraction among all province-level regions in China, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.

* Rio Tinto on Friday warned that COVID 19-related labour shortages in the resource-rich state of Western Australia and rising inflation would impact its underlying earnings in the second half, knocking its stock lower.

(Compiled by Shailesh Kuber and Sherry Jacob-Phillips; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Sriraj Kalluvila)