The health agency, while raising this concerns said the COVID-19 Delta strain has now spread across to 104 countries.

WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, made this known at a media briefing on COVID-19  at its headquarters in Geneva on Monday.

In a speech on the health body’s website, Ghebreyesus was quick to raise concerns about the COVID-19 variant saying “Delta and other highly transmissible variants are driving catastrophic waves of case, which are translating into high numbers of hospitalisations and death.

He went further to draw the attention of the members at the meeting to the false hope of vaccines as being a quick fix to the virus.

“Vaccines have never been the way out of this crisis on their own, but this current wave is demonstrating again just what a powerful tool they are to battle back against this virus.,” he stated.

Speaking on the spread of vaccines, the 56-year-old made clear the intentions of  WHO as being to vaccinate those who have received no doses and protection.

“Instead of Moderna and Pfizer prioritizing the supply of vaccines as boosters to countries whose populations have relatively high coverage, we need them to go all out to channel supply to COVAX, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team and low- and low-middle income countries, which have very low vaccine coverage,” he remarked

He called on world leaders to put in collaborative efforts to stop the spread of the new variant around the globe

“The world should battle together to put out this pandemic inferno everywhere. The global gap in vaccine supply is hugely uneven and inequitable.”

He disclosed this in a series of tweet on his verified handle @Dr.Tedros.

“I’ve been identified as a contact person of someone who has COVID-19 symptoms, I am well and without symptoms but will self quarantine over the coming days and self quarantine from home.

“My colleagues and I at WHO will continue to engage with partners in solidarity to save lives and protect the vulnerable,” he tweeted.

Ghebreyesus and other officials at the WHO have been at the forefront of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic since it broke out early in the year.

In a four-page letter addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus, the US President criticized the stages of the body’s response to the outbreak of the disease since December.

The US President, who disclosed that talks on reforming the WHO had already begun, had earlier called the UN health body a “puppet of China”.

The letter read in parts “It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China. My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste. It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world. The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China. My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste.”

This is coming after Trump temporarily halted funding to the organization last month.

Here is the full letter