Director-General of the World Health Organiation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, has been detected in at least 98 countries and is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many of them.

While speaking at a press briefing on Friday,    Ghebreyesus said, 'Compounded by more transmissible variants, like Delta, which is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries, we are in a very dangerous period of this pandemic'.

The WHO Chief further said that terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing were again becoming the norm in countries with low vaccination coverage. Adding that no country 'is out of the woods yet', Ghebreyesus termed the Delta variant 'dangerous' and warned that the variant 'is continuing to evolve and mutate'. 

Suggesting two ways for countries to push back against new surges in Covid-19 cases, the WHO chief stressed that public health and social measures like strong surveillance, strategic testing, early case detection, isolation and clinical care remain critical. He aldo added that masking, physical distance, avoiding crowded places and keeping indoor areas well ventilated are required to keep the surge in check.

As the second measure, Ghebreyesus urged that the world must equitably share protective gear, oxygen, tests, treatments and vaccines.

Similarly, the WHO Chief also urged Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna to share mRNA technology and know-how to help new manufacturing hubs accelerate the production of Covid-19 vaccines. He said, 'The sooner we start building more vaccine hubs and upping global vaccine capacity, the sooner we can diminish deadly surges'.