* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed his plans to lift remaining COVID-19 curbs by a month, warning that thousands of more people might die if he did nothing because of the rapid spread of the more infectious Delta variant.

* Vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca offer high protection of more than 90 per cent against hospitalisation from the Delta coronavirus variant, a new analysis by Public Health England showed.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Olympics organisers prepared to unveil their latest "playbook" of rules to control COVID-19 infections as Japan's government pondered whether to extend a state of emergency and senior Olympics official John Coates arrived in Tokyo.

* Melbourne, Victoria reported two new locally-acquired cases, both linked to an existing cluster that prompted renewed social distancing measures in the city.

* India reported on Tuesday 60,471 new infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest since March 31.

AMERICAS

* The United States crossed the grim milestone of 600,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, as slowing vaccination rates threaten the Biden administration target of having 70 per cent of US adults receive at least one shot and 160 million fully inoculated by July 4.

* Fully vaccinated visitors to Walt Disney Co's US theme parks will not be required to wear face masks in most areas starting on Tuesday.

* Chilean health authorities said they would extend a COVID-19 emergency through September to allow the government to impose restrictions.

* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asked Pfizer Inc to bring forward planned delivery of vaccines, a government source said.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Africa will get priority treatment for the Group of Seven's pledged 870 million doses of vaccine, a senior World Health Organisation adviser said on Monday.

* Johnson & Johnson will export more ready-to-administer vaccines to South Africa beyond the 300,000 doses already pledged, CEO of Aspen Pharmacare said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Novavax Inc said its vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective, including against a variety of concerning variants of the coronavirus in a large, late-stage US-based clinical trial.

* The Delta variant doubles the risk of hospitalisation compared with the previously dominant variant in Britain, but two doses of vaccine still provide strong protection, a Scottish study found.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher, though investors looked to a much-anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting to see if the central bank would signal any change to the US monetary policy outlook.

* The European Union began selling the first bond backing its recovery fund, according to a lead manager, a crucial step in financing member states' economic recovery.

GLOBAL

DEATHS: 3,827,850

CASES: 177,036,242

RECOVERED: 161,233,145

Australian Associated Press