Delta to be the dominant COVID-19 strain globally: WHO

The Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus is soon expected to be the dominant strain spreading globally, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), as per a report by the Hindustan Times.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, said that the highly contagious variant is spreading globally at a scorching pace is spiking cases and deaths. The variant, first spot in India, is now reported in 104 countries.

Tedros said that last week was the fourth consecutive week of increasing pandemic cases globally. Before that, the cases were declining almost for ten weeks, he said. The world is only able to watch in real-time while the virus continues to change and become more transmissible.

He said that the world is experiencing a worsening public health emergency threatening lives, livelihoods, and the global economy's balance by halting its recovery. It is worse in places that are facing vaccine deficiency, and the pandemic is not over anywhere. He urged the world to battle together against the pandemic.

Tedros further said that the world is in the midst of "a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between the countries are increasingly divergent."

He said that Delta is spreading quickly among unprotected and vulnerable people, where vaccine coverage is reasonably high. This is steadily putting more pressure back on the health systems.

According to him, Delta, among other highly contagious variants, are storming around the globe, surging high numbers of infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Even those countries that successfully managed to stop the pandemic's initial waves are now at risk of devastating outbreaks.