The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has exceeded 541 million, with over 6.3 million deaths, the latest data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

Here is the latest:

The Chinese mainland recorded 48 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with 13 linked to local transmissions and 35 from overseas, data from the National Health Commission showed on Thursday.

The number of new COVID-19 cases rose in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe last week, while the number of deaths globally dropped by 16 percent, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) latest weekly pandemic report issued Wednesday.