GENEVA, November 11. /TASS/. The number of coronavirus cases grew globally over the past week by more than 3.6 mln, which is the highest figure since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of deaths increased by more than 54,000, which is 9,000 more than a week earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.
Over the past week, the total number of COVID-19 cases increased by 8% from the previous week, to more than 3.6 mln, the WHO said. As of November 8, about 49.7 mln people were infected and more than 1.2 mln people died. The largest share of new cases in seven days continues to occur in the European region - that is where more than half of new cases (54%) and almost half (47%) of new deaths come from, the organization said.
The previous record for the increase in the incidence in the world in seven days was recorded from October 26 to November 1 - more than 3.3 mln cases.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.