"We are at war" against COVID-19, said the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the opening of the main annual meeting of member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday.

The UN chief urged the international community to adopt the logic of war to halt the pandemic.

"We are at war with a virus. We need the logic and urgency of a war economy to boost the capacity of our weapons," said Guterres.

Meanwhile, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called in his speech for a huge global push to ensure that "at least 10 percent of the population of every country" is vaccinated against COVID-19 by September.

Tedros also hailed the sacrifices made by health workers around the world to battle the pandemic, noting that at least 115,000 medics have died from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

"For almost 18 months, health and care workers all over the world have stood in the breach between life and death," he said. "They have saved countless lives and fought for others who, despite their best efforts, slipped away."

He also described the overall inequity in access to vaccines as "scandalous," warning that it was "perpetuating the pandemic" as more than 75 percent of all COVID-19 vaccines have gone to just 10 countries. 

(With input from AFP)