<p>The world passed the "tragic milestone" of four million recorded Covid-19 fatalities on Wednesday, the World Health Organization said, adding that the pandemic's true toll was probably higher.</p>.<p>WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the landmark had been reached, more than 18 months since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.</p>.<p>"The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic. We have just passed the tragic milestone of four million recorded Covid-19 deaths, which likely underestimates the overall toll," Tedros told a press conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva.</p>.<p>The UN health agency's director-general said some countries with high vaccination coverage were now "relaxing as though the pandemic is already over", dropping public health measures and planning to roll out booster shots.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/pfizer-moderna-vaccines-cut-covid-19-risk-by-91-study-1005875.html">Pfizer, Moderna vaccines cut Covid-19 risk by 91%: Study</a></strong></p>.<p>But he said that far too many countries all over the world were seeing sharp spikes in cases and hospitalisation, due to fast-moving virus variants and a "shocking inequity" in global access to vaccines.</p>.<p>"This is leading to an acute shortage of oxygen, treatments and driving a wave of death in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America," Tedros said.</p>.<p>"Vaccine nationalism, where a handful of nations have taken the lion's share, is morally indefensible</p>.<p>"At this stage in the pandemic, the fact that millions of health and care workers have still not been vaccinated is abhorrent."</p>.<p>Tedros said variants were currently outpacing vaccines due to the inequitable distribution of available doses, which he said was also threatening the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.</p>.<p>"From a moral, epidemiological or economic point view, now is the time for the world to come together to tackle this pandemic collectively."</p>
<p>The world passed the "tragic milestone" of four million recorded Covid-19 fatalities on Wednesday, the World Health Organization said, adding that the pandemic's true toll was probably higher.</p>.<p>WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the landmark had been reached, more than 18 months since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.</p>.<p>"The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic. We have just passed the tragic milestone of four million recorded Covid-19 deaths, which likely underestimates the overall toll," Tedros told a press conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva.</p>.<p>The UN health agency's director-general said some countries with high vaccination coverage were now "relaxing as though the pandemic is already over", dropping public health measures and planning to roll out booster shots.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/pfizer-moderna-vaccines-cut-covid-19-risk-by-91-study-1005875.html">Pfizer, Moderna vaccines cut Covid-19 risk by 91%: Study</a></strong></p>.<p>But he said that far too many countries all over the world were seeing sharp spikes in cases and hospitalisation, due to fast-moving virus variants and a "shocking inequity" in global access to vaccines.</p>.<p>"This is leading to an acute shortage of oxygen, treatments and driving a wave of death in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America," Tedros said.</p>.<p>"Vaccine nationalism, where a handful of nations have taken the lion's share, is morally indefensible</p>.<p>"At this stage in the pandemic, the fact that millions of health and care workers have still not been vaccinated is abhorrent."</p>.<p>Tedros said variants were currently outpacing vaccines due to the inequitable distribution of available doses, which he said was also threatening the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.</p>.<p>"From a moral, epidemiological or economic point view, now is the time for the world to come together to tackle this pandemic collectively."</p>