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World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday warned the world about the 'early stages' of COVID-19 third wave amid Delta surge, The Economic Times reported.

"Unfortunately...we are now in the early stages of a third wave," he said.

On Wednesday, the head of WHO said that Delta variant's spread, along with increased social mobility and the inconsistent use of proven public health measures, is driving an increase in both case numbers and deaths.

Recalling the sustained decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths that was being driven, in recent months, by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America, he sounded alarms over the fresh reversal of that positive trend, reported UN News.

Meanwhile, said Tedros, the virus is continuing to evolve, resulting in more transmissible variants.

"The Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries and we expect it to soon be the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating worldwide if it isn't already," he said.

Tedros also drew the Emergency Committee on COVID-19's attention to the ongoing "shocking disparity" in the global distribution of vaccines, as well as unequal access to life-saving tools.

He reiterated his concern that inequity has created a two-track pandemic - namely, one track for countries with the greatest access to vaccines, who are lifting restrictions and reopening their societies, and a second track for those without vaccines access who are left "at the mercy of the virus."

Tedros reiterated WHO's appeal for a massive push to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of the population of every country by September, at least 40 per cent by the end of 2021, and at least 70 per cent by mid-2022.