Europe

* Britain's biggest supermarket groups will encourage staff and customers to keep wearing face coverings from Monday despite new rules making it a matter of personal choice.

* The European Union added Ukraine to a list of countries for which it recommends that COVID-related travel restrictions be lifted. Rwanda and Thailand, meanwhile, were removed from the safe list.

* Unvaccinated workers in restaurants and tourism companies on some of Greece's main holiday islands will be regularly tested for COVID-19 after the Delta variant fuelled a surge in infections, a minister said.

* Europe's drug regulator refrained from making any recommendations on mixing schedules of vaccines with doses from different manufacturers, saying it was too early to confirm if and when an additional booster shot would be needed.

Asia-Pacific

* International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said there was "zero" risk of Games participants infecting Japanese residents with COVID-19, as cases hit a six-month high in the host city.

* Senior Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan warned on Thursday that COVID-19 cases may continue to rise in Indonesia, but said authorities hoped that daily infections would not top 60,000.

* Malaysia reported 13,215 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a record for a third straight day. Health authorities have reported 880,782 cases in total in the country.

Americas

* The United States will send a "significant" additional amount of coronavirus vaccines to Haiti soon, the White House said, a day after the troubled Caribbean nation received 500,000 US-donated doses.

* Canada will allow cruise ships back into its waters starting in November, but they must fully comply with public health requirements that have yet to be finalised, Ottawa said.

* US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy raised the alarm over a growing wave of misinformation about COVID-19 and related vaccines that threatens efforts to quell the pandemic and save lives, urging technology companies and others to act.

* The United States has started shipping 3.2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine to the Philippines, the White House said.

* For the first time, a clear majority of Brazilians think the country's pandemic is no longer "out of control", a Datafolha poll showed, in what could be a boost for President Jair Bolsonaro, who is almost certain to seek re-election next year.

Middle East and Africa

* Eleven African heads of state called for $100 billion in hardship funding to help dig their economies out of the hole caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Africa recorded a 43 percent jump in COVID-19 deaths last week as infections and hospital admissions have risen and countries face shortages of oxygen and intensive-care beds, the WHO said.

Medical Developments

* The World Health Organization's chief scientist has advised individuals against mixing and matching vaccines from different manufacturers, saying such decisions should be left to public health authorities.

Economic Impact

* A measure of global equity markets slid from near record highs, the dollar edged higher and bond yields fell as investors mulled the Federal Reserve's benign inflation outlook and upbeat assessment of the US economy.

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