FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Scientists are resuming COVID-19 trials of the now world-famous drug hydroxychloroquine, as confusion continues to reign about the anti-malarial hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a potential "game-changer" in fighting the pandemic.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * More than 6.55 million people have been reported infected with the new coronavirus globally and 385,933 have died, a Reuters tally showed as of 1420 GMT on Thursday.

* 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

* The European Union is preparing to use an emergency 2.4-billion-euro ($2.7 billion) fund for advance purchases of promising vaccines against the new coronavirus, EU officials told Reuters. * Nearly 30,000 COVID-19 tests which Britain sent to a U.S. lab for processing came back void, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said.

* A planeload of 150 ventilators arrived in Russia from the United States, in further medical aid collaboration between the two politically-estranged nations. * Ireland hopes to be able to recommend the resumption of air travel with a select number of countries in a number of weeks.

* Spain played down the possibility of reopening its land borders on June 22 after a government minister announced it would do so, prompting confusion in neighbouring Portugal. * Sweden has entered the post-peak phase and will start doing more extensive testing, pledging an additional 5.9 billion crowns ($633.5 million) to ramp up tracing of cases, as the country prepares to ease its travel restrictions from June 13.

* The Czech government will open its borders with Austria, Germany and Hungary on Friday, the prime minister was quoted as saying. * Slovenia will from Friday lift border restrictions for Austrians.

AMERICAS * Coronavirus is spreading fast through Brazil's indigenous populations, with deaths caused by the disease increasing more than five-fold in the past month, according to a national association of first peoples.

* The Trump administration has selected five companies, including Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc, as the most likely candidates to produce a coronavirus vaccine, the New York Times reported. * Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc said it partnered with non-profit organization International Vaccine Institute to begin an early trial of the U.S. biotech's experimental COVID-19 vaccine on humans later this month.

ASIA-PACIFIC * Thousands defied a police ban to gather in Hong Kong to mark China's 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy crackdown and accuse Beijing of stifling freedoms in their semi-autonomous territory.

* China will promote the resumption of the tourism, culture and sports sectors, a top-level meeting chaired by the premier said, state radio reported. * Rural parts of India have begun to see a surge in infections, as millions of returning migrant workers bring the virus home with them, according to data collected from seven Indian states.

* The governor of Jakarta announced the easing of some restrictions but warned the fight against the outbreak in Indonesia's capital was far from over. * Azerbaijan will order everyone to stay home this weekend in big cities in response to a rise in infections.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * African countries have secured 90 million test kits for the next six months, a regional disease control body said, urging states and donors to boost the continent's testing capabilities as quickly as possible.

* Turkey plans to resume flights with around 40 countries in June and has reached preliminary agreements for reciprocal air travel with 15 countries. * Tunisians returned to mosques and cafes as the country ended most lockdown restrictions.

* South Africa's mining industry is in talks with the government about allowing foreign miners to return to work. * Senegal said it would ease a dawn-to-dusk curfew after protesters in Dakar set tyres on fire and threw stones in demonstrations against the restrictions imposed almost three months ago.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT * World markets swung between hope and caution as a another shot of European Central Bank stimulus was offset by still-troublesome U.S. data and general fatigue after a weeks-long recovery.

* As oil and gas companies began shutting offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico for the tropical storm season, experts said restarting it will be slower and costlier this year because of COVID-19. * Global steel demand is expected to fall 6.4% this year, but bounce back next year, the World Steel Association said.

* Britain's emergency spending and tax cuts are likely to cost 132.5 billion pounds ($166.1 billion), up about 7.5% from a previous estimate, the country's budget watchdog said. * German economy minister said his aim is for Europe's largest economy to return to pre-crisis levels in the second half of 2022.

* The French 2020 budget update due next week sees public debt reaching 120.9% of GDP this year, finance ministry sources said. * The U.S. unemployment rate, which economists expect hit 19.8% in May, should be able to drop below 10% by the end of 2020, U.S. labor secretary said.

* Saudi Arabia's banks face a tough few quarters as the coronavirus crisis and weak oil prices put pressure on profitability and loan growth, banking executives told Reuters. (Compiled by Linda Pasquini and Milla Nissi; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Arun Koyyur and Tomasz Janowski)