"For the fourth week in a row, the number of global new cases reported fell, with 3.1 million new cases last week, a17% decline compared to the previous week," the WHO said.
"This is the lowest figure since the week of 26 October (15 weeks ago)," it said.
The WHO said that although there are still many countries with increasing numbers of cases, the tendency at the global level was encouraging.
"The number of new deaths reported also fell for a second week in a row, with 88,000 new deaths reported last week, a 10% decline as compared to the previous week. All WHO regions reported a decline in new cases, with five out of six regions reporting more than 10% decreases," the global health body said.
"Europe and the Region of the Americas saw the greatest drops in absolute numbers, with together nearly 0.5 million fewer new cases reported last week (153,000 and 320,000 fewer new cases reported, respectively). New deaths also declined in all regions except the Western Pacific, where mortality rates remained similar to the previous week," it said.
