GENEVA (AFP) - The coronavirus pandemic appears to be accelerating worldwide, with new cases soaring last week to a new seven-day high of almost two million, even as new deaths decreased, World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics showed.

In a fresh global update, the WHO said late on Monday (Sept 21) that during the week ending on Sept 20, 1,998,897 new cases of the novel coronavirus were registered around the world.

That marks a 6 per cent increase over a week earlier and "the highest number of reported cases in a single week since the beginning of the epidemic", the UN health agency said.

Since the novel coronavirus first surfaced in China late last year, it has infected more than 31 million people around the globe and has killed nearly 962,000, according to an AFP tally from official sources on Monday.

Nearly all regions of the world saw new cases rise last week, WHO said, with Europe and the Americas seeing new cases swell by 11 and 10 per cent respectively.

Only Africa, which has remained relatively unscathed by the pandemic, dodged the upward trend, reporting a 12 per cent drop in fresh cases from a week earlier.

Even as cases shot up across much of the world, the number of new deaths is going down, the WHO statistics showed.

DECLINING DEATHS

Last week, some 37,700 new deaths linked to the virus were recorded worldwide, marking a decline of 10 per cent compared to the previous week.

The decline was driven by the Americas, long the hardest-hit region, where new deaths were 22 per cent lower than a week earlier, and by Africa where new deaths dropped 16 per cent.

The Americas meanwhile still accounts for half of all reported cases and 55 per cent of deaths in the world. The clear drop in new deaths in the region was driven mainly by decreases in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia.

The United States, which is the world's worst-hit country, and Brazil, the second-worst hit, continued to report the highest number of deaths, each reporting over 5,000 new deaths in the past week.

Europe, some of which is experiencing a second wave of infections, meanwhile saw its new death count shoot up to over 4,000 for the seven-day period, a 27 per cent hike compared to a week earlier.

In Europe, France, Russia, Spain and Britain reported the highest number of new cases in the past week, while Hungary and Denmark reported the highest relative increase in deaths.

Britain continues to count the highest number of cumulative deaths on the continent at nearly 42,000 since the beginning of the pandemic.