The Pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it. It's in our hands, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of World Health Organisation. He added that people have all the tools they need.

"We can test for it, and we can treat it," he said.

Almost 4 million cases were reported to WHO last week, and going by the current trends, "we expect the total number of cases to pass 200m within the next two weeks."

On average, in five of WHO's six regions, Covid-19 infections have increased by 80%, or nearly doubled, over the past four weeks. In Africa, deaths have increased by 80% over the same period.

Much of this increase is being driven by the highly-transmissible Delta variant, which has now been detected in at least 132 countries.

WHO has warned that the Covid-19 virus has been changing since it was first reported, and it continues to change. So far, four variants of concern have emerged, and there will be more as long as the virus continues to spread.

WHO is supporting countries with supplies of oxygen, guidance to help countries better detect variants. "The World Health Organisation is working daily with our global networks of experts to understand why the Delta variant spreads so readily," added the WHO chief.

The rise is driven by increased social mixing and mobility. The inconsistent use of public health system, social measures and inequitable syringe use are pushing back the fight against Covid. Hard-won gains are in jeopardy or being lost and health systems in many countries are being overwhelmed, said the WHO chief.

Testing rates in low-income countries are less than 2 per cent of what they are in high-income countries, leaving Europe-Africa blind to understanding where the disease is and how it's changing.

WHO's goal remains in supporting every country to vaccinate at least 10% of its population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year. "We are a long way off achieving those targets," said the WHO chief.

So far, just over half of countries have fully vaccinated 10% of their population, less than a quarter of countries have vaccinated 40%, and only 3 countries have vaccinated 70%.

WHO's Covid-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said: "Let me be very clear, we are not seeing the Delta variant specifically target children but the variant will spread where there is social mixing, less vaccination, etc.

On current trends, nearly 70% of African countries will not reach the 10% vaccination target by the end of September.

WHO calls for additional financing of Covax: In parallel, we will need additional financing this year for Covax to exercise its options to purchase vaccines for 2022. This investment is a tiny portion of the amount governments are spending on dealing with Covid-19.

(With inputs from agencies)