The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday declared Covid-19 (coronavirus) a pandemic, as the number of confirmed cases approach 120,000 worldwide.

"There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives. Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.

"In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher."

He said in the past two weeks, the number of cases of Covid-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries had tripled.  

He said the world health body had been assessing the outbreak around the clock and were deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of the spread and its severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.

"We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. 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."

He said describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO was doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.

"We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time."

He called on every country to take urgent and aggressive action.

"We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear...If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilise their people in the response, those with a handful of cases could prevent those cases becoming clusters, and those clusters becoming community transmission," he said.

"Even those countries with community transmission or large clusters can turn the tide on this virus. Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled."

He said some countries were struggling with a lack of capacity, some were struggling with a lack of resources while some were struggling with a lack of resolve.

"We are grateful for the measures being taken in Iran, Italy and the Republic of Korea to slow the virus and control their epidemics. We know that these measures are taking a heavy toll on societies and economies, just as they did in China."