CORONAVIRUS CASES, DEATHS SLOW IN MOST REGIONS: WHO

The coronavirus pandemic is still raging worldwide, but fresh World Health Organization data indicates its pace is easing in most regions, with the biggest slowdown seen in the hard-hit Americas.

a group of people standing in front of a crowd: People queue to be tested at a temporary testing centre for the novel coronavirus in the Spanish Basque city of Gernika.© ANDER GILLENEA / AFP People queue to be tested at a temporary testing centre for the novel coronavirus in the Spanish Basque city of Gernika.

More than 1.7 million new coronavirus cases and some 39,000 new deaths were recorded last week, the WHO said in a situation report published late Monday. The numbers for the seven-day period ending on August 23 mark a five-percent decrease in new COVID-19 cases globally and a 12-percent drop in new deaths compared to a week earlier. Despite the slowdown, the fresh numbers pushed the global total since the start of the pandemic to well over 23 million cases and more than 800,000 deaths. With the exception of Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, all regions registered declines in new numbers, the UN health agency said.

The Americas remain by far the hardest-hit in the pandemic, accounting last week for half of all newly reported cases and 62 percent of deaths. But the region also saw the biggest slowdown, with the number of new cases decreasing 11 percent and new deaths falling 17 percent from a week