...We are now in the early stages of a third wave...
The world is currently in the early stages of a third wave, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
"We are now in the early stages of a third wave," he said in his opening remarks at the 8th meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee on COVID-19.
The WHO boss stated that in the past week cases of COVID-19 were increasing globally, and deaths have started to go up again. Moreover, "deaths are increasing again" after 10 weeks of declines, he added. "The Delta variant is one of the main drivers of the current increase in transmission, fueled by increased social mixing and mobility, and inconsistent use of proven public health and social measures," he stated.
According to Ghebreyesus, "the Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries," so the WHO expects "it to soon be the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating worldwide if it isn’t already."
The WHO head further stated that a lack of access to vaccines leaves most of the world’s population "at the mercy of the virus".
He added that "many countries still have not received any vaccine, and most have not received enough".
