Countries struggling with Covid-19 vaccine supply, distribution: WHO expert

All countries are having issues with the supply and distribution of vaccines against COVID-19, said Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme, on Monday.

"All countries are struggling with the issue of getting the vaccine and then deciding the scheduling and whether they go for giving one dose to everybody and then trying to delay the second dose a little," Ryan said at a press conference.

This statement comes as the drugmakers around the world including Pfizer and AstraZeneca, have run into production woes and had to reduce deliveries of the coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik reported.

Speaking at the same press briefing, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO expects the world's coronavirus case total to surge past 100 million this week.

"One year ago today, fewer than 1,500 cases of COVID-19 had been reported to the World Health Organization, including just 20 cases outside China. This week, we expect to reach 100 million reported cases," Tedros said.

He further said people should continue to adhere to precautionary measures to impede the spread of the coronavirus until the majority of the global population was vaccinated.

"There is so much all we can do to navigate our way out of this pandemic while we all wait our turn to be vaccinated: physical distancing, avoiding crowds, masks, hands hygiene, ventilation and more. You might be sick of hearing it. You might be sick of doing it, but this virus is not sick of us," the WHO chief added.

The global number of COVID-19 cases reached 98,794,942, with the cumulative death toll rising to 2,124,193, according to the WHO data.