World Health Organization (WHO) has characterised the new coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that he is alarmed by the spread and severity of the outbreak, along with a lack of action taken to combat it. WHO chief said the number of cases and deaths are likely to rise in the coming days and weeks. He said, WHO has never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged world governments to urgently scale up their response to the novel coronavirus if they are to stand a chance of stemming its spread. In a statement, UN Secretary General said, the declaration of coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic is a call to action for everyone, everywhere. He called on every government to step up and scale up their efforts now. Guterres said, if countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response, we can go a long way in mitigating transmission.