GENEVA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 152 countries and regions have reported 167,511 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday morning, an increase of 13,903 infections compared to the previous day, according to a daily situation report released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The global death toll from the pandemic of COVID-19 increased by 862 to 6,606 in the past 24 hours as of 10:00 CET Monday.

Outside China, 13,874 more cases were reported, bringing the cumulative number of infections to 86,434, among which 3,388 patients have died.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted more cases and deaths of COVID-19 have now been reported in the rest of the world than in China, stressing the necessity of testing and isolating cases in response to the pandemic.

In Europe, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 56,000 cases were reported by over 50 countries and regions as of Monday morning.

The most affected European countries with over 2,000 cases each -- Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland -- have reported nearly 45,000 infections in total as of Monday morning.

Besides, the report showed 83 countries and regions outside China have seen local transmission of COVID-19.