The death rate from the novel coronavirus is higher than first thought, the World Health Organization has admitted.

“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died,” the organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Tuesday — markedly higher than all the initial predictions.

Early reports had pegged the death rate at 2.3 percent, while a study of the virus’ spread in China published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine had it even lower, at just 1.4%.

“By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected,” Tedros noted, saying that COVID-19 “causes more severe disease.”

“While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity,” he said, noting 3,110 deaths recorded as of his remarks Tuesday.

A medical staff member checks information as patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus leave from Wuhan. AFP via Getty Images An elderly woman receives assistance in a pre-triage medical tent in front of the Cremona hospital in Italy. AFP via Getty Images An emergency department nurse during a demonstration of the coronavirus pod and COVID-19 virus testing procedures set-up beside the Emergency Department of Antrim Area Hospital. PA Images via Getty Images A security guard wears protective clothing as he takes the temperature of an arriving customer at the entrance to a restaurant in Beijing. AFP via Getty Images Health officers, wearing masks and special protective suits, take care of a patient infected by the coronavirus at a hospital in Iran. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Ad Up Next Close Coronavirus claims Baby Yoda As if deliveries weren't delayed enough already. 5 View Slideshow Back Continue Share this: Facebook

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Tedros stressed that the medical community is racing to find treatment, saying that “more than 20 vaccines are in development.”

“We understand that people are afraid and uncertain,” he said.

“Fear is a natural human response to any threat, especially when it’s a threat we don’t completely understand.”