GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization said there were about 4 million coronavirus cases reported globally last week, marking the first major drop in new infections in more than two months. In recent weeks, there have been about 4.4 million new COVID-19 cases.
In its weekly update released on Tuesday, the U.N. health agency said every region in the world saw a drop in COVID-19 cases compared to the previous week.
Although the worldwide number of deaths decreased to about 62,000, with the sharpest decline in Southeast Asia, there was a 7% increase in deaths in Africa. The highest numbers of cases were seen in the U.S., Britain, India, Iran and Turkey and the highly contagious delta variant has now been reported in 180 countries.
WHO also said children and teenagers continue to be less affected by COVID-19 when compared to adults, adding that deaths of people under 24 due to the disease account for fewer than 0.5% of global deaths.
WHO has previously said children should not be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations given the extreme vaccine shortages globally.
Around the U.S., COVID-19 deaths and cases have climbed back to levels not seen since last winter. The U.S. is currently averaging over 1,800 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels respectively since early March and late January.
President Joe Biden last week ordered all employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations or weekly tests.