FACTBOX-Latest on the worldwide spread of coronavirus

The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the United States on Thursday was the second highest on record, just short of their midsummer peak as the spread accelerates in nearly every region.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, open https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/ in an external browser.

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news. EUROPE

* France extended curfews to around two thirds of its population and Belgium's foreign minister was taken into intensive care with COVID-19, as Europe's reported coronavirus cases more than doubled in 10 days. * Italy has registered 19,143 new infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Friday, the highest daily tally since the start of the outbreak.

* Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Friday looked set to dismiss his health minister for holding a meeting in a restaurant closed under government restrictions after the minister refused to resign over the incident. * Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez exhorted Spaniards on Friday to further limit social contact to combat Europe's worst COVID-19 hotspot, but he stopped short of announcing new measures amid political disputes over potential curfews

AMERICAS * More than a half million people in the United States could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, but around 130,000 of those lives could be saved if everybody were to wear masks, according to estimates from a modelling study.

* Mexico's health ministry said six of its 32 federal entities are now showing signs of new outbreaks, after previously bringing down the number of infections. * The Peruvian government refused to sign a vaccine purchase agreement with AstraZeneca because it did not provide sufficient data from its studies and offered minimal amounts of inoculations.

ASIA-PACIFIC * India is urgently preparing a database of all government and private health personnel to quickly vaccinate them once it is safe to do so.

* Turkey will evaluate possible new measures as the outbreak flares, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. * The Japanese government's expert panel to combat the pandemic plans to propose on Friday extending the New Year holidays by about a week to Jan. 11, Kyodo News reported.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA * Ethiopia can jail people for up to two years if they deliberately violate restrictions, the attorney general's office said, amid concern that citizens are becoming lax after a state of emergency was lifted.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS * The U.S. FDA approved Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, making it the first and only drug approved for the disease.

* Researchers called for more research into using blood from recovered patients as a potential treatment, after a small trial of hospitalised patients in India found it was of no benefit. ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global stocks rallied and benchmark U.S. Treasury yields hit 4-month highs on Friday, buoyed by optimism that a deal can be reached on a fresh U.S. relief package. * Euro zone economic activity has slipped back into decline this month as renewed restrictions forced many businesses in the bloc's dominant service industry to limit operations.

* Consumer confidence in Brazil fell in October for the first time in six months, a survey indicated on Friday, with persistent worries over the pandemic weighing heavily and suggesting that the economy's recovery may be losing steam. (Compiled by Anna Rzhevkina, Anita Kobylinska and Amy Caren Daniel; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Andrew Cawthorne)