According to the World Health Organization, the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded globally declined by roughly a quarter last week, following a downward trend that began in late March.

In a weekly report, the Geneva-based United Nations health agency said approximately 5.59 million cases were registered between April 11 and 17, 24 percent less than the previous week. The number of deaths recorded for the first time fell by 21% to 18,215.

The WHO reported that new cases decreased in every area, however only by 2% in the Americas. The report was dated late Wednesday and distributed to reporters on Thursday.

“These developments should be viewed with care,” the agency noted, “since numerous nations are gradually modifying their COVID-19 testing procedures, resulting in fewer total numbers of tests done and, as a result, lower numbers of cases discovered.”

According to WHO, the nations with the most reported cases last week were South Korea (over 972,000), France (over 827,000), and Germany (over 769,000). The United States, with 3,076, Russia, with 1,784, and South Korea, with 1,671, recorded the most new fatalities.

So date, more than 502 million cases of COVID-19 have been documented, with over 6.2 million fatalities linked to the coronavirus.