* About one-in-three COVID-19 cases in the United States are now caused by the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, according to government data that also showed overall infections still declining from January's record highs.

* The US Travel Association urged the White House to lift COVID-19 travel restrictions and repeal a mandate requiring masks on planes and other transit modes by April 18.

* Mexico is sticking to its plan to package domestically the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V because health matters are separate from political conflicts, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

* White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki tested positive for COVID-19 and will not travel to Europe this week with President Joe Biden, who tested negative in a PCR test, she said in a statement.

EUROPE

* France had its biggest jump in new COVID-19 cases since February, health ministry data showed.

* Poland's parliament will try to thrash out a compromise on Wednesday over reforms to the Supreme Court that could unlock 36 billion euros ($A53 billion) of EU COVID-recovery grants and loans being withheld due to a dispute over judicial independence.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Novavax said its COVID-19 vaccine has got emergency-use authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India for young people aged 12 to 17 years.

* Fully reopening international travel in Hong Kong should have "marginal impact" on the spread of COVID-19, an academic study said, as the financial hub begins to unwind strict coronavirus measures.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said restrictive COVID-19 regulations that have weighed on the nation's struggling economy for two years would be removed on Wednesday, with the national state of disaster also to end soon.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Most children and adolescents with COVID-19 antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection usually still have the antibodies in their blood more than half a year later, data shows.

* An Italian study published on Tuesday suggests efficient ventilation systems can reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in schools by more than 80 per cent.

GLOBAL:

DEATHS: 6,109,823

CASES: 473,747,212

RECOVERED: 409,650,898

Australian Associated Press