The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that there were nearly three million coronavirus cases globally last week, a 10 per cent increase that was accompanied by a 3pc rise in deaths, reversing a nine-week trend of declining Covid-19 incidence.

In its weekly report, the UN health agency says the highest numbers of new cases were from Brazil, India, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. WHO says the easier-to-spread Delta variant has now been identified in 111 countries since first being detected in India and it expects the variant to become globally dominant in the coming months.

WHO says more transmissible versions of Covid-19 could emerge and “coupled with the relaxation and inappropriate use of public health and social measures and increased social mobility and mixing”, numerous countries would see higher cases, hospitalisations and deaths, AP reports.