The number of cases of coronavirus infection in the world yesterday exceeded 200 million, British media reported, while the delta variant of the virus threatens areas with low vaccination rates.

According to British media, the cases are growing in at least 83 of the 240 countries in the world and are disrupting health systems.

- We desperately want this pandemic to end, but Covid-19 is obviously not ready with us. So, our battle must last a little longer, said Rochelle Valensky this week, director of the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 2,6 percent of the world's population has been infected so far, with probably a much higher real number infected, primarily due to limited testing in many areas.

It took a year for Covid-19 cases to reach 100 million, while the next 100 million were reported in the next six months, according to the analysis. The pandemic has caused nearly 4,4 million deaths so far.

The countries that report the most cases in the seven-day average - the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, India and Iran - make up about 38 percent of all cases reported worldwide on a daily basis.

The United States is one of only seven reported cases worldwide. US states with low vaccination rates, such as Florida and Louisiana, have a record number of hospitalized patients.

The head of a Louisiana hospital has warned that the "darkest days" are yet to come, as 97 percent of serious cases of the infection are in unvaccinated people, the White House vs. Covid-19 team said.

Southeast Asian countries are also reporting an increase in cases. With eight percent of the world's population, the continent accounts for almost 15 percent of all global daily cases, according to a Reuters analysis.

Indonesia, which faced an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in July, reported the highest number of deaths on average, surpassing 100.000 yesterday.

The country has one in five daily Covid-19 deaths worldwide. The South Asian country plans to gradually reopen its economy in September, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Monday, noting that the tide had risen and daily cases were declining.

After going through the worst outbreaks in April and May, India is again on the rise in new cases. Last Friday, the country reported 44.230 new cases of Covid-19, the most in three weeks, raising concerns about a third wave that forced one federal state to quarantine.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first appeared in late 2019, will test its 12 million inhabitants for coronavirus, after the first locally transmitted cases of the delta variant were confirmed. The city has not reported any local cases of infection since mid-May last year.

The CDC said in an internal document that the delta variant, first discovered in India, is as contagious as measles and much more contagious than the common cold or flu.

Gregory Poland, a vaccination scientist at the Mayo Clinic, said current vaccines would not put an end to the infection.

"We are now in a scenario we caused ourselves, and it will take us years or decades to beat the pandemic. We will try to catch new variants until we get the type of vaccine that will offer to block the infection." said Poland.

Many countries continue to face shortages of testing equipment, drugs and vaccines, while the delta variant burdens health systems in poorer countries. Wealthier nations are being urged to donate more vaccines to prevent the growth of infected people globally.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for a moratorium on booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine at least until the end of September, its director Tedros Adanom Gebrejesus said on Wednesday.

- This will allow at least 10 percent of the population in each country to be vaccinated, he stressed.

"I understand that all governments want to protect their people from the delta. "But we can not accept that countries that have already used most of the globally available vaccine want to use it even more." he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking $ 11,5 billion to fight the delta variant of the virus, the report said, amid concerns that rich countries are partially bypassing Covid-19 programs.