The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus is being spread largely by young people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are unaware they have been infected.
Takeshi Kasai, regional director for WHO Western Pacific, told a virtual briefing on Tuesday that young people driving the spread pose a risk to more vulnerable groups.
It comes as the number of COVID-19 infections worldwide surpassed 21.9 million people, with over 770,000 fatalities.
As the rush to find more effective treatment and a vaccine continues, a major state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company has claimed its coronavirus vaccine will be commercially available by the end of the year.
SinoPharm has two vaccines in trial and an annual manufacturing capacity of 220 million doses, said its chairman, Liu Jingzhen.
New figures from the ffice the for National Statistics on Tuesday showed England and Wales have recorded the lowest weekly number of deaths from coronavirus since March when the lockdown was imposed.
152 people died from Covid-19 in the week up to 7 August, the lowest number of deaths from the disease over seven days since the week ending 20 March.
