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.

Axar.az reports citing TASS 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.