Unvaccinated people are ‘Covid variant factories’ as fears loom mutations could prolong pandemic, scientists warn

UNVACCINATED people are Covid "variant factories" who could prolong the pandemic and lead to more restrictions, scientists have warned.

The dire prediction comes as the World Health Organisation warned that mutant strains are already outpacing the current wave of jabs as much of the world had hoped the virus horror could be coming to an end.

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More than half of the world's population have not yet had a dose of the Covid vaccine - with some three billion doses administered worldwide.

And while the highest jab rates in the world are figures such as 73 per cent in Iceland and 67 per cent in the UK, some of poorer nations such as African countries have barely scratched the surface.

The world is still seeing some 2.7million cases of the virus every week - with hundreds of thousands of infections in Brazil and India.

It is feared gaping holes in the global vaccine coverage combined with rampant outbreaks will allow new variants - such as Delta and the newly concerning Lambda strains - to spawn.

Mutations may then be able to beat vaccines and potentially force countries back into lockdown as they face being taken back to square one in the fight against Covid.

And it also comes as many nations see continuing anti-vax sentiment as many people refuse to get the jab.

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told : "Unvaccinated people are potential variant factories.

"The more unvaccinated people there are, the more opportunities for the virus to multiply.

"When it does, it mutates, and it could throw off a variant mutation that is even more serious down the road."

The UK delayed lockdown lift in June was down to the Delta variant as medics wanted to monitor the new strain's spread - and while July 19 remains nailed on, it has been warned Britain could face a hard winter.