The data continues to show that the sharp increase in cases that we are seeing is not being followed by a similar increase in hospitalisation and death, said Dr Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency.

This is because two doses of the available vaccines offer a high level of protection against the Delta variant. Getting both jabs is the best way to ensure you and the people you love remain safe, so we once again urge everyone to come forward as soon as they are eligible, she said.

“I also urge governments to take a preventive approach by addressing the determinants of mental well-being through robust social protection for children and families”, he added, saying that mental health and psychosocial support, together with community-based approaches to care, are “integral to universal health coverage. They cannot be its forgotten part.”

On Thursday, Pfizer’s Dr. Mikael Dolsten told The Associated Press that early data from the company’s booster study suggests people’s antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier.

The humanitarian group also said that 155 million people around the world are now living in crisis levels of food insecurity or worse some 20 million more than last year. Around two thirds of them face hunger because their country is in military conflict.

Today, unrelenting conflict on top of the COVID-19 economic fallout, and a worsening climate crisis, has pushed more than 520,000 people to the brink of starvation, added Maxman.