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, WHO statistics showed.

In a fresh global update, the World Health Organisation said that during the week ending on September 20, 1,998,897 new cases of the novel coronavirus were registered around the world.

That marks a six 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, according to AFP.

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 10pc respectively.