GENEVA: The World Health Organisation says the number of coronavirus cases ticked up worldwide last week even as the weekly count of COVID-19 deaths dropped to the lowest level since October.
The UN health agency, 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.
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.