The World Health Organization said Wednesday the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and that has infected more than 121,000 people around the world has become a pandemic. Until now, the WHO has characterized the illness, which broke out in Wuhan, China, late last year, as a series of epidemics. An outbreak is deemed to have become a pandemic when it has spread from human-to-human on several continents. The agency said the number of cases outside China has increased tenfold and the number of countries affected has tripled. "We expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock," WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. "And we're deeply concerned. Most by the alarming levels of spread and severity. And by the alarming levels of inaction."