WHO chief declares coronavirus outbreaks a global pandemic

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, World Health Organisation Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was deeply concerned about the "alarming" level of spread and severity, but also of inaction on the part of world leaders.

On the basis of all of the above, the WHO took the step of labelling the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreal a "pandemic", meaning that community transmission among humans had been detected on multiple continents.

According to the organisation's COVID-19 situation dashboard, as of 1902 GMT 118,281 cases had been confirmed abd 4,292 fatalities reported across 114 countries, including 373 cases in the UK.

However, people should not fear the designation of the virus as a pandemic, nor take that to mean that the fight was over.

Tedros also highlighted the fact that the People's Republic of China and South Korea had both managed to stem their epidemics.

The WHO had also wanted to avoid a public panic.

"We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: All countries can still change the course of this pandemic," he added.

"The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same. It's whether they will.

"It's doable."