The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths has continued to decline globally, with 3.1 million new cases and just over 54,000 new deaths, reported over the last week, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Compared to the previous week, this represents a nine percent decrease in cases, while deaths remained similar, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update. This continues the trend that has been observed since August. During the week of Sept. 27 to 3 Oct. 3, all regions reported a decline in the number of new cases, apart from Europe which remained similar to the week before. The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported in Africa (43 percent), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean (21 percent), Southeast Asia (19 percent), the Americas (12 percent) and the Western Pacific (12 percent). 4.8 million deaths The number of confirmed cases reported globally is now over 234 million, with fatalities just under 4.8 million.  A large decline in the number of new weekly deaths was also reported for all regions, except the Americas and Europe. These regions both reported a similar number of weekly deaths as the previous week. The largest decline in weekly deaths was reported from Africa, with a 25 percent decline, compared with the previous week. According to the update, the regions reporting the highest weekly case incidence rates per 100,000 population were Europe (123.1 new cases per 100,000) and the Americas (109.5 new cases per 100,000), while the same two regions reported this highest weekly incidence in deaths per 100,000 population; the Americas (2.4 new cases per 100,000) and Europe (1.6 new cases per 100,000). The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States (760,571), the United Kingdom (239,781 new cases; similar to the number reported in the previous week), Turkey (197,277 new cases; similar to the number reported in the previous week), the Russian Federation (165,623 new cases; 13 percent increase), and India (161,158 new cases; a 21 percent decrease). Globally, the report found that cases of the Alpha variant have been reported in 195 countries, territories or areas (two new countries added since last week), while 145 countries (3 new countries since last week) have reported cases of the Beta variant; and 99 countries have reported cases of the Gamma variant (4 new countries since last week). The Delta variant has been reported in 192 countries (seven new countries since last week) across all six WHO regions, as of Oct. 5. — UN News