GENEVA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Europe reported 17,506 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours as of midnight Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the region to 104,591, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday in a daily situation report.

A total of 4,899 patients in Europe had died of COVID-19 as of 23:59 CET Thursday (2259 GMT), an increase of 816 deaths compared with the previous day, according to the WHO report.

The most affected European countries -- Italy, Spain, Germany and France, all with more than 10,000 cases -- have registered more than 80,000 infections in total, including 4,566 deaths.

Outside China, the epidemic outbreak has killed more than 6,500 people, as the cumulative number of cases surpassed 150,000, the report showed.

More than 230,000 cases have been reported worldwide, including over 9,000 deaths, the report said.

Besides, the report indicated that six additional countries and regions reported their first confirmed cases, while 96 countries and regions have seen local transmission of COVID-19.

COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone every day, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists on Friday.

"Every loss of life is a tragedy," Tedros said, calling it "motivation to double down and do everything we can to stop transmission and save lives."