WHO urges action to suppress COVID before deadlier variants emerge

The WHO has said that the Delta variant of Covid-19 is a warning to the world to suppress the virus quickly before it mutates again into something even worse. The highly-transmissible variant has now surfaced in 132 countries and territories, the World Health Organization said.  WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference that Delta is a warning, it's a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added said, "So far, four variants of concern have emerged -- and there will be more as long as the virus continues to spread." Tedros said that on average, infections increased by 80 percent over the past four weeks in five of the six WHO regions. Though Delta has shaken many countries, Ryan said proven measures to bring transmission under control still worked -- notably physical distancing, wearing masks, hand hygiene and avoiding long periods indoors in poorly ventilated, busy places. "They are stopping the Delta strain, especially when you add in vaccination," he said.

More than four billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have now been administered globally, In countries categorised as high income by the World Bank, 98 doses per 100 people have been injected. That figure drops to 1.6 per 100 in the 29 lowest-income countries. The WHO wants every country to have vaccinated at least 10 percent of its population by the end of September; at least 40 percent by the end of this year, and 70 percent by the middle of 2022. We are a long way off achieving those targets," Tedros lamented. He said that just over half of the 194 WHO member states have fully vaccinated 10 percent of their population; less than a quarter have vaccinated 40 percent; and only three countries have vaccinated 70 percent. Meanwhile the WHO says Burundi, Eritrea and North Korea are the only remaining member states yet to start Covid-19 vaccination campaigns.

Tedros said that on current rates of infection, the 200 million known infections mark will be surpassed within the next two weeks, although the true figure will be much higher. "There are no magical solutions," said Ryan. "The only magic dust we have is vaccination. The problem is we're not sprinkling that evenly around the world and we are working against ourselves."