World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday stated that the number of coronavirus related deaths declined to the lowest since October last year.
However, the number of active cases has surged globally last week.
WHO said most new cases were reported in Brazil and India – though weekly case counts in those two countries were declining – as well as Colombia, followed by Indonesia and Britain, which each tallied a weekly increase in cases.
WHO in its latest weekly epidemiological report on the pandemic, also said on Wednesday that its 53-country European region reported a "sharp increase" – 30% – in infection incidence, while Africa registered a 23% rise in mortality from COVID-19 during the period.
All WHO regions except the Americas — one of the hardest-hit regions — and southeast Asia posted an increase in deaths over the last week, the agency said in a statement.
More than 2.6 million new COVID-19 cases were reported between June 28 and July 4, a slight increase on the previous week, while the tally of deaths registered over the week declined 7% to 54,000, WHO said. That was the lowest such weekly figure since October.