The World Health Organisation Emergency Committe on Thursday said that the Covid-19 variants were spreading accross the globe, making it even more difficult to impede the pandemic.

"The pandemic is nowhere near finished," the committee warned in a statement following a meeting Wednesday on the pandemic situation.

According to AFP sources, Didier Houssin, the chairman of the committee, acknowledged that the "recent trends are worrying" and said that a year-and-a half after the WHO first declared a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) -- its highest alert level -- "we are still running after this virus and the virus is still running after us".

For now, four concerning variants of Covid-19 are dominating the global pandemic picture, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and especially the rapidly-spreading Delta variant first detected in India.