OREANDA-NEWS. The spread of the delta coronavirus strain is ahead of the measures the world community is taking to respond to the pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Delta continues to outpace our collective response to COVID-19, with hotspots of hospitalization and death in every country where vaccinations are low and public health is limited, ”said the WHO CEO.

He added that an additional $ 1 billion is urgently needed to implement the strategic preparedness and response plan. Ghebreyesus also recalled the organization's call to the global community to raise $ 7.7 billion for the ACT-Accelerator program, designed to help accelerate the production of funds to combat COVID-19.

"The goal is to rapidly scale up testing, oxygen supply, treatments, vaccines, protective equipment for healthcare workers and expand research and development into next generation healthcare tools," he said.

Earlier it was reported that the World Health Organization is creating a new group of experts who will continue to study the origin of COVID-19, and urges not to politicize this process. This is stated in a statement released earlier by the WHO.