FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll neared 50,000 on Tuesday, confirming its place as one of the worst hit countries in the world just as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to ease the stringent virus lockdown.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * More than 6.31 million people have been reported infected with the coronavirus globally and 375,439 have died, a Reuters tally showed by 1247 GMT on Tuesday.

* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser. * For a U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.

* For Eikon users, see MacroVitals (cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?navid=1592404098) for a case tracker and a summary of developments. EUROPE

* Britain's statistics regulator chided the government on Tuesday for publishing data on coronavirus tests that it said were "far from complete and comprehensible". * British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government faced widespread mockery on Tuesday over coronavirus rules which were cast by some media as a "sex ban".

* Slovakia will undo more coronavirus restrictions from Wednesday, including opening indoor sports centres and pools, as the country with one of the world's lowest death rates from the outbreak moves ahead with reopening. * Russia will start giving patients its first drug approved to treat COVID-19 next week, its state financial backer told Reuters.

* Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. * World Health Organization experts and a range of other scientists said on Monday there was no evidence to support an assertion by a high-profile Italian doctor that the coronavirus has been losing potency.

AMERICAS * Brazil's government has launched a new emergency credit line of 20 billion reais ($3.73 billion) to help small and mid-sized companies deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic.

* Eli Lilly and Co said first set of patients have been dosed in an early-stage trial to test its potential COVID-19 treatment, in the world's first study of an antibody treatment against the disease. * Colombia issued new measures to control the spread in three of its most affected cities, including capital Bogota, as the rest of the country prepares for quarantine rules to start lifting.

ASIA-PACIFIC * China will fully implement its commitment to nationally determined contributions on climate change under the Paris climate agreement despite the coronavirus outbreak, the country's environment ministry said on Tuesday.

* India's government said on Tuesday it has approved Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir for emergency use in treating COVID-19 patients. * Japan's government said on Tuesday it has approved saliva-based tests for the virus, offering a safer, simpler way to diagnose infection than nasal swabs as it looks to boost its testing rates.

* South Korea expects clinical trials of Celltrion Inc's experimental COVID-19 treatment to begin in Europe next month and aims to secure sizable supplies of the drug by the first half of next year. * Indonesia has cancelled the haj pilgrimage this year for people in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation due to concerns over the coronavirus.

* Hong Kong confirmed its first locally transmitted cases in more than two weeks, fuelling concerns over its spread as restrictions on movement are relaxed. MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Uganda will lose $1.6 billion a year in earnings from tourism as visitors stay away due to the impact of the coronavirus, President Yoweri Museveni said. * Senegal has postponed the restart of schools until further notice after several teachers tested positive for the coronavirus.

* Nigeria will relax coronavirus restrictions on places of worship from Tuesday, the chairman of the presidential task force for COVID-19 said. ECONOMIC FALLOUT

* Asian stocks rose on Tuesday as investors' focus on the prospects of a global coronavirus recovery won out over familiar worries about U.S.-China relations and the depth of economic damage. * China's central bank vice governor said on Tuesday the economic hit from the novel coronavirus was bigger than first expected and that more monetary and credit policy support was needed.

* European manufacturers may be over the worst of a coronavirus-driven downturn, but Asia's pain deepened in May due to a slump in global trade, surveys show. * Japan's government will submit to parliament early next week a second extra budget to fund a new $1.1 trillion stimulus package, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

* Hong Kong's retail sales fell by 36.1% in April from a year earlier, hammered by the new coronavirus that has sent many retailers to the brink of collapse. * Germany is working on a stimulus package worth 75-80 billion euros ($83-89 billion) to support economic recovery after the pandemic, weekly Bild am Sonntag reported.

(Compiled by Anna Rzhevkina, Anita Kobylinska, Amy Caren Daniel and Vinay Dwivedi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Anil D'Silva and Arun Koyyur)