WHO urges fully vaccinated people to continue wearing masks amid Delta variant spread

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged fully vaccinated people across the world to continue wearing face masks, follow social distancing and other safety protocols to prevent the COVID-19 virus from spreading across the world.

At a press briefing on Friday, WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted with concern that as some countries ease public health and social measures, there is an increase in transmission around the world. 

"The Delta variant, first identified in India and the cause of the country's horrific second wave of the pandemic, is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

After causing the massive second wave of the pandemic in India, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is now spreading rapidly in several other countries around the world. The highly transmissible variant, first identified in India is behind the fresh surge being reported in countries like the UK, Israel, Russia, and Australia.

The health organisation's comments come as some countries, including the United States, have largely done away with masks and pandemic-related restrictions as the COVID-19 vaccines have helped drive down the number of new infections and deaths.

WHO officials are asking fully vaccinated people to continue to 'play it safe' because a large portion of the world remains unvaccinated and highly contagious variants, like Delta, are spreading in many countries, spurring outbreaks. The WHO said last week that Delta is becoming the dominant variant of the disease worldwide.