The number of new Covid-19 cases declined last week for the first time in over three months, but deaths in the region continued to climb, AFP cited WHO data as showing on Wednesday.

In total, nearly four million cases of the novel coronavirus were registered worldwide during the week ending Sunday, and almost 60,000 people died from the disease during the same period, the World Health Organisation said.

Europe, which on Tuesday saw its total number of coronavirus infections climb past 15 million, remained the hardest-hit region.

Last week, it accounted for 46 per cent of the new global cases and 49pc of the deaths, the UN health agency's weekly epidemiological update showed.

With 1.84 million new cases registered, the caseload across the region remained staggeringly high, but WHO noted that “in the past week, for the first time in over three months, the region observed a decline of 10pc in weekly cases.” At the same time though, more than 29,000 new Covid-19 deaths were registered across Europe — an 18 percent jump from the previous week, it said.