New Delhi: The head of the World Health Organization(WHO) expressed concern that the simultaneous circulation of the delta and omicron variants of COVID-19 is creating a “tsunami” of cases.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a media briefing on Wednesday that the twin threats of delta and omicron are driving up cases to record numbers and pushing up hospitalizations and deaths.
He said the increased spread puts immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse.
The WHO chief then called for a fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, urging wealthier nations to do their part to improve vaccine equity.
Tedros emphasized that the only way to fully end the pandemic will be to vaccinate the entire world, saying that the WHO will push for a vaccination rate of 70 percent for every country by mid-2022.
Friday will mark the second anniversary of the virus being discovered in Wuhan, China. According to the WHO, more than 280 million people have been infected with the virus worldwide over the past two years, with over five million dead.
