Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The U.S. drug regulator granted full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, prompting President Joe Biden to make a fresh pitch to vaccine sceptics to get the shot to fight the pandemic.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS EUROPE * French health authorities said the number of people hospitalised for COVID-19 and those treated in intensive care units stood at the highest levels in more than two months. * Germany has decided to stop using the coronavirus infection rate as its yardstick for deciding if restrictions should be in force, Chancellor Angela Merkel said. * Britain has agreed to buy 35 million more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, to be delivered from the second half of next year. * Sweden is likely to see infections gain momentum in the coming months, the health agency said. ASIA-PACIFIC * Vietnam deployed soldiers to help enforce a strict lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City, its biggest urban area and current epicentre of its worst outbreak to date. * Indonesia will start reopening restaurants, malls and places of worship in some areas including the capital Jakarta, as new cases have fallen sharply from their peak and vaccinations rise. * China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the first time since July. * New Zealand's prime minister extended the lockdown, as criticism mounts of her strategy to eliminate COVID-19 amid the slow rollout of vaccinations.