The number of COVID-19 infections globally surpassed the 500 million mark on Tuesday even as the world continues to see a decline in new cases and fatalities.

According to the latest figures published by the Johns Hopkins University, 500,074,490 cases had been registered by Tuesday afternoon with a total of 6,182,982 deaths.

Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom warned that despite the decline in infections and fatalities, the pandemic is still far from over.

Noting that COVID-19 has exposed serious gaps in the global health security architecture, the WHO chief said the world needs to learn from the current pandemic to prepare for any future health crises that may arise.

The WHO chief also took the opportunity to rally the world towards unity in its response to the virus.

He particularly pointed out vaccination gaps as a challenge that was impeding the fight against COVID-19, noting that while some of the high-income countries were rolling out fourth doses of the life-saving jabs, one third of the world's population is yet to receive a single dose, including 83 percent of the population of Africa.