The number of weekly reported COVID-19 infections rose last week, the first time in seven weeks that the figure went up, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Speaking on Wednesday at a Member States Information Session on COVID-19, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom urged countries not to ease their responses to the pandemic simply because of vaccines.

"Governments and individuals must remember that vaccines alone will not keep up safe. Basic public health measures remain the foundation of the response," he said.

"Some of it [increase in weekly cases] appears to be due to relaxing of public health measures, continued circulation of variants, and people letting down their guard."

Tedros remarks came as the number of COVID-19 infections globally surpassed the 115.29 million mark with a death toll exceeding 2.56 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Various countries have already rolled out mass vaccination drives, starting with fronline healthcare workers and other high-risk groups.

Tedros noted that 237 million dozes of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be allocated to 142 countries by end May through the WHO's COVAX facility