JOHANNESBURG- The emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant highlights the "perilous situation" the world is in roughly two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday.

He added that he was disappointed that countries had imposed blanket travel bans on southern Africa over Omicron and that transparency would help end the pandemic.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Wendell Roelf) ((alexander.winning@tr.com; +27 10 346 1076))