* Spain, which hit the grim milestone of five million COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, will give a booster injection manufactured by Pfizer or Moderna to people who received Johnson & Johnson's single-shot vaccine.

* The European Union's drug regulator said it has concluded in its review that Moderna's booster vaccine may be given to people aged 18 years and above, at least six months after the second dose.

* Ukraine's health minister urged more people to get their shots as deaths hit a daily record and hospitalisations were up more than a fifth on the previous week.

* Switzerland said it was recommending booster shots for people over 65 but not for the general population.

AMERICAS

* A Brazilian Senate investigative committee approved on Tuesday the final report of its findings, and called for President Jair Bolsonaro to be indicted for nine crimes related to his handling of the pandemic.

* New York City's police union filed a lawsuit against a vaccine mandate for municipal workers ordered last week by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

* Becton Dickinson and Co has partnered with Amazon.com Inc to begin shipment of a new at-home rapid test that can confirm results using an entirely automated smartphone app.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Fully-vaccinated Australians will no longer need to apply for an exemption to leave the country, ahead of the country easing its international borders.

* China is demanding faster and more accessible testing services in its latest effort to reinforce a zero-tolerance policy, while Russia and Bulgaria reported a record number of daily deaths.

* South Korea granted emergency use approval for Moderna's vaccine produced by South Korean drugmaker Samsung BioLogics.

* Singapore will allow quarantine-free entry to vaccinated travellers from Australia and Switzerland from November 8, the city-state's aviation regulator said.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* The African Union intends to buy up to 110 million doses of vaccine from Moderna in an arrangement brokered in part by the White House, which will defer delivery of some doses intended for the United States to facilitate the deal, officials told Reuters.

* BioNTech signed an agreement with the Rwandan government and Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal on the construction of the first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa starting in mid-2022.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* An expert panel voted overwhelmingly to recommend the US Food and Drug Administration authorise the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, saying the benefits of inoculation outweigh the risks.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Equity markets gained globally on Tuesday as upbeat corporate earnings buoyed investor appetite for riskier investments, while gold prices fell nearly one per cent.

* US consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in October as concerns about high inflation were offset by improving labour market prospects, suggesting economic growth was picking up after a turbulent third quarter.

* Taiwan's trade-reliant economy is expected to have expanded at a slower pace in the third quarter due to the island's outbreak, a Reuters poll showed.

GLOBAL

DEATHS 4,978,043

CASES 245,246,915

RECOVERED 222,320,262

Australian Associated Press