Sharjah24 – Reuters: Glaring COVID-19 vaccine inequality has created a "two-track pandemic" with Western countries protected and poorer nations still exposed, World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday (June 7), renewing pleas for shot donations.

"Increasingly, we see a two-track pandemic," Tedros told reporters during a press conference from Geneva.

"Six months since the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered, high-income countries have administered almost 44 percent of the world's doses. Low-income countries have administered just 0.4 percent. The most frustrating thing about this statistic is that it hasn't changed in months."

Pressed by a reporter on how the WHO will "compel" China into being more open, Mike Ryan, director of the agency's emergencies programme said that the WHO cannot compel any country to divulge more data on COVID-19's origins, while adding it will propose studies needed to take understanding of where the virus emerged to the "next level".

"WHO doesn't have the power to compel anyone in this regard", he said.

"We fully expect cooperation, input and support of all of our member states in that endeavour," Ryan added.

There are competing theories: that the virus jumped from animals, possibly starting with bats, to humans, or that it escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Members of a WHO team that visited China earlier this year hunting for COVID-19's origins have said they did not have access to all data, fuelling continued debate over the country's transparency.

When asked about Brazil hosting the Copa America soccer tournament, Ryan said he would advise any country undertaking mass gathering be extremely careful to manage risks.

Argentina pulled out of hosting the tournament - due to run from June 13 to July 10 - as the pandemic there worsened, and Brazil stepped in as possible host, over objections from some officials investigating the nation's pandemic response.

Tedros warned that despite a global decrease in the number of cases, three out of the six WHO regions, Africa, the Americas and the Western Pacific, are seeing an increase in the number of deaths.

As leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations, G7 meet this week in the UK to discuss major crises, Tedros called on leaders to commit to share doses by June and July.