Over 4.1 mln people contracted the coronavirus infection worldwide over the past week, more than 44,000 died, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

The number of new infections decreased by 2%, while the number of fatalities declined by 9% compared to the previous seven-day period, AFP reported.

According to the WHO COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, a total of 4,177,622 new cases and 44,616 deaths were reported to the global organization between December 13 and 19.

In Africa, a significant increase in incidence (up 53%) and mortality (up 15%) was registered.

Europe accounts for 63% of weekly infections and 60% of deaths.

The omicron variant of the novel coronavirus was detected in 106 countries, the World Health Organization said.

The Delta variant remains the dominant one worldwide, and was detected in 96% of samples, TASS reported.

The US is in first place in terms of confirmed infections reported to the WHO with 50,565,638 cases, followed by India (34,752,164) and Brazil (22,213,762).