Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the number of reported new COVID-19 cases worldwide decreased by nearly a quarter last week, continuing a decline since the end of March 2022.

The Geneva-based UN health agency said in a weekly report that nearly 5.59 million cases were reported between 11 and 17 April, 24% fewer than in the previous week.

The number of newly reported deaths dropped 21% to 18,215.

WHO said new cases declined in every region, though only by 2% in the Americas.

The countries with the highest reported case numbers last week were South Korea with more than 972,000, France with over 827,000 and Germany with more than 769,000, WHO said. The highest numbers of new deaths were reported by the US, with 3,076, Russia with 1,784 and South Korea with 1,671.

In all, more than 502 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 6.2 million deaths related to the coronavirus have been reported so far.