Denmark is on coronavirus lockdown, becoming the second country in Europe to grind to a halt as the life-threatening disease rips across the continent.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen declared that all Danish schools, universities, and kindergartens will be shut for two weeks to slow the spread of the bug.

Tough new measures will also include banning indoor events with 100 or more participants, and sending non-critical public sector employees home.

Private sector workers will also be encouraged to work from home, after the Danish Patient Safety Authority reported 442 new cases this week. The country now has 617 confirmed cases.

The urgent action follows the World Health Organization's designation of coronavirus as a pandemic, as it blasted 'inactive' governments for fueling the crisis.

Pictured: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen holds a press conference on the escalating coronavirus crisis in her country, in Copenhagen, March 10, 2020

Ms Frederiksen said: 'Under normal circumstances, a government would not present such far-reaching measures without having all the solutions ready for the many Danes concerned. But we are in an extraordinary situation' (pictured, EU summit, February 2020)

According to The Local, the Prime Minister added: 'We will not get through this as a country without a cost. Businesses will close. Some will lose their jobs. We will do what we can to mitigate the consequences for employees' (pictured, March 11, 2020)

In a press conference yesterday, Ms Frederiksen said: 'This will have huge consequences, but the alternative would be far worse.

'Under normal circumstances, a government would not present such far-reaching measures without having all the solutions ready for the many Danes concerned.

'But we are in an extraordinary situation.'

According to The Local, the Prime Minister added: 'We will not get through this as a country without a cost. Businesses will close. Some will lose their jobs.

'We will do what we can to mitigate the consequences for employees.'

Søren Brostrøm, director of the The Danish Health Authority, called the disease 'not only a threat for Denmark, but for the whole world'.

Pictured: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing, March 9

The Danish Government previously announced that it would shift its coronavirus strategy from 'containment' to 'delay' as the number of cases rose.

The move signalled the new effort to divert resources from preventing the infection coming to Denmark to slowing down its spread domestically.

It comes as the WHO blamed 'alarming levels of inaction' by governments across the planet for fueling the escalating coronavirus crisis.

The UN agency said it was 'deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and anxiety' as the number of global confirmed cases surpassed 120,000.

Director-General of the UN agency Dr Tedros Adhanom also blasted governments for ignoring repeated WHO pleas to take urgent and aggressive action, with cases of the deadly illness outside of China having risen 13-fold in the space of a fortnight because of escalating crises in Italy, Iran, Spain, Germany, and France.

The WHO said: 'Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly.

'It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.'

Denmark's Prime Minister has preempted Boris Johnson's anticipated decision to formally move the UK into the 'delay phase' of battling coronavirus.

The Prime Minister will chair an emergency Cobra meeting tomorrow, and meet with Labour figures to brief them on planned emergency laws - including closing schools, banning large gatherings, and ordering the country to work from home.

His administration was accused of 'playing roulette' with people's lives as the eighth confirmed death in the UK by the disease was announced today.

Richard Horton, chief editor of the prestigious Lancet medical journal, blasted the Government's dithering, saying: 'The UK Government - Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson - claim they are following the science.

'But that is not true. The evidence is clear. We need urgent implementation of social distancing and closure policies.

'The Government is playing roulette with the public. This is a major error.'

One UK victim was a woman in her 70s with underlying health problems from Dudley, West Midlands. The second was an 'elderly patient' with a number of chronic conditions at the George Eliot Hospital in Warwickshire.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Nadine Dorries made the shock announcement that she is self-isolating for a fortnight after being diagnoses with coronavirus.

Panic spread in Westminster as a total six MPs quarantined themselves, for fear they had contracted the virus after coming into contact with the 62-year-old.

Another Cabinet minister, unnamed by The Daily Telegraph, has also self-isolated, prompting fears that Mr Johnson could have contracted the virus. Symptoms often take days to appear, meaning the Prime Minister could already have the bug.

Pictured: Boris Johnson with Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons (March 11)

Pictured: Health Secretary Matt Hancock (left) and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (right)