Coronavirus confirmed as pandemic by WHO

The World Health Organization has labelled the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, as the number of cases outside China has increased 13-fold in the last fortnight.

A pandemic is defined as a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he was ‘deeply concerned’ by ‘alarming levels of inaction’ and subsequently called on governments to change the course of the outbreak by taking ‘urgent and aggressive action’. The calling of a pandemic does not mean that the WHO will be changing its advice about what countries should do.

The UK government is expected to announce that it is stepping up its response to the coronavirus, with minsters saying that the country will switch to tactics aimed at delaying its spread, rather than containing it.

There are now 460 confirmed cases in the UK - 387 in England, 36 in Scotland, 18 in Northern Ireland and 19 in Wales. In all, 27,476 people have been tested so far, with eight people known to have died.

An imminent COBRA meeting is expected to see Prime Minister Boris Johnson sign off plans to move from the ‘containment’ phase of the outbreak to ‘delay’. This could mean more restrictions on public gatherings above a certain number of people, and people who show even minor signs of respiratory tract infections - such as a cough - or a fever being told to self-isolate.