The World Health Organisation has urged “extreme caution” for countries considering lifting Covid-19 restrictions, warning that high vaccination rates would not stop transmission of the virus increasing.

The UN health agency urged governments not to squander hard-won gains and return to scenes of overwhelmed hospitals and exhausted health workers, AFP reported.

“Making assumptions that transmission will not increase because we're opening up, because of vaccine, is a false assumption,” said WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan.