The WTO postponed its first ministerial meeting in four years due to the deteriorating health situation, which became the first major diplomatic casualty of the new coronavirus variant on November 26.
Ministers from WTO members were due to have gathered next week for a meeting that was widely seen as a test of the relevance of the WTO.
The WTO said late on Friday that its members had agreed to postpone the ministerial conference after the new variant outbreak resulted in travel restrictions that would have prevented many ministers from reaching Geneva.
No new date has been set for a rescheduled meeting.
The World Health Organisation has classified the B 11529 variant detected in South Africa as a variant of concern that it may spread more quickly than other forms of the virus. Scientists are trying to find out if it is vaccine resistant.
Switzerland, which is home to the WTO, has banned direct flights from South Africa and the surrounding region, and has imposed test and quarantine requirements on travel from other countries, including Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.
The Geneva-based trade body had planned a meeting in person, but the new restrictions meant delegations of large players such as South Africa and the Brussels-based European Commission would be limited to a largely virtual presence.
Even before the postponement, the prospects were not bright.
The WTO has only managed one update of its global rules in its 27 year history, the red tape-cutting Trade Facilitation Agreement, and its 164 members look far from agreement in its most active talks - on curbing fishing subsidies and spreading COVID 19 vaccines more widely.
India, South Africa and other developing countries are calling for a waiver of intellectual property IP rights for vaccines and other COVID 19 treatments. President Joe Biden said he supported a waiver for vaccines.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the postponement did not mean negotiations should stop.
The delegations in Geneva should be empowered to close as many gaps as possible. She said that this new variant reminds us again of the urgency of the work we are charged with.
Santiago Wills, the Colombian WTO ambassador who chairs the fishing subsidy talks, said the news was deflating but pledged to work towards an agreement to save global fish stocks.