Briefing media in Geneva, WHO director-general TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus said while Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated.
This huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries, he added.
Highlighting Africa's COVID vaccination rate, the WHO chief said in Africa, more than 85 per cent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine.
We cannot end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap, he added. WHO chief stated that but we still have a long way to go to reach our target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the population of every country by the middle of this year.
90 countries have still not reached the 40 per cent target, and 36 of those countries have vaccinated less than 10 per cent of their populations, he added.
