INTERNATIONAL: The highly infectious Omicron coronavirus variant causes less severe disease than the Delta strain but it remains a "dangerous virus", particularly for those who are unvaccinated, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said more than 90 countries were yet to meet the target of vaccinating 40 percent of their populations and more than 85 percent of people in Africa were yet to receive a single dose.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says; “While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus. Particularly for those who are unvaccinated. Almost 50,000 deaths a week is 50,000 deaths too many. Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can or should accept this number of deaths. We must not allow this virus a free ride or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the globe remain unvaccinated."

He has also said the majority of people hospitalized around the world with COVID-19 were unvaccinated and that if transmission was not curtailed there was greater risk of another variant emerging that could be even more transmissible, and deadlier, than Omicron.

In its weekly epidemiological report on Tuesday, the WHO has reported cases increased by 55 percent, or 15 million, in the week to January 9 from a week earlier - by far the most cases reported in a single week.