Many parts of the world are seeing a spike in new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks as the virus remains highly infective despite countries’ continuing efforts to vaccinate their people. 

South Korea's Central Disaster Management Headquarters on Friday said that four-point-56 million novel coronavirus cases were confirmed across the world in a week-long period through Monday, marking an increase for the eighth straight week. 

The U.S. alone reported one-point-03 million cases over the cited period, the first time since late January its weekly tally surpassed the one-million mark. 

Israel saw an uptick in weekly cases by 31-point-eight percent to 52-thousand-804, while Japan registered a growth for the ninth consecutive week with 149-thousand-57 cases. 

The number of the pandemic-induced deaths per million people also grew in seven major countries surveyed including South Korea, the headquarters said. 

Korea’s latest figure, one-point-two, was lower than others, including 20-point-3 for the U.S., 10-point-three for the U.K., 16-point-nine for Israel and one-point-five for Japan.