Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered the lowest level of deaths due to Covid-19 since early October 2020, it said on Wednesday.
There were just under 54,000 deaths in the week from June 28 to July 4 - 7 per cent fewer than in the previous week, the organization said.
However case numbers have risen, with just over 2.6 million in the same week, as infections increase especially in Europe.
There were 30 per cent more cases in the European area which, under the WHO's mapping of the regions, spans 53 countries from Portugal to Tajikistan.
The more transmissible Delta variant of the virus was identified in seven additional countries and is now confirmed as present in 104 of the 194 countries that are members of the WHO.
Worldwide, the WHO has registered 183 million cases since the pandemic began, and nearly 4 million deaths.
However, the true figures are widely thought to be higher as not all countries detect and report all cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has added further anti-inflammatory drugs to the range of medications recommended for treatment against Covid-19.
The Geneva-based UN body published recommendations for tocilizumaband sarilumab on Tuesday.
The two medications, both of which were originally developed for rheumatoid arthritis, are life-saving for severely ill Covid-19patients, according to the updated WHO guidelines.
Data from more than 10,000 ill people in 27 clinical studies has shown that these medications reduced the risk of death in severely ill patients by 13 per cent, the WHO said.
Some of the data used is not yet published.
The probability of severely ill patients needing artificial respiration fell by 28 per cent.
The drugs are both IL-6 receptor blockers.
"These drugs offer hope for patients and families who are suffering from the devastating impact of severe and critical Covid-19. But IL-6receptor blockers remain inaccessible and unaffordable for the majority of the world," said WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.
The WHO called on pharmaceutical companies to reduce the price of expensive medications and supply them to poorer countries already facing a lack of Covid-19 vaccines.
The health body also urged production licences to be granted in as many countries as possible.
In September, the WHO recommended steroids as an anti-inflammatory treatment for severe Covid-19 cases in order to fight extreme immune responses in patients. -- dpa
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