Published July 16, 2021, 9:14 AM Paris, France — The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Thursday that “more dangerous” variants of COVID-19 could tear across the world as global infections soared to half a million daily, largely driven by the virulent Delta strain. An AFP tally of official sources found that after an initial dip, cases have been rising again worldwide since the end of June, topping 540,000 on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment pray in front of the bodies of people who died from COVID-19 during their funeral at a cemetery in Mandalay, Myanmar (STR AFP) “The pandemic is nowhere near finished,” the WHO’s emergency committee said in a statement.