In a warning, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic is set to be far more deadly than the first.

he World Health Organisation issued a grim warning on Friday that the second year of Covid-19 was set to be "far more deadly", as Japan extended a state of emergency amid growing calls for the Olympics to be scrapped.

"We're on track for the second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The mood also darkened in Japan where the coronavirus state of emergency took in another three regions just 10 weeks before the Olympics, while campaigners submitted a petition with more than 350,000 signatures calling for the Games to be cancelled.

With Tokyo and other areas already under emergency orders until the end of May, Hiroshima, Okayama and northern Hokkaido, which will host the Olympic marathon, will now join them. Japanese public opinion is firmly opposed to holding the Games this summer.

India has been adding roughly as many new Covid cases daily as the rest of the world put together. More than 260,000 Indians have died, according to official figures.

The WHO, however, urged wealthy countries to stop vaccinating children and instead donate doses to poorer nations. "I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now I urge them to reconsider and to instead donate vaccines to Covax," said WHO chief Tedros, referring to the global vaccine-sharing scheme.

Source: India Today