WHO upgrades global risk of virus spread to 'very high'

The UN health agency on Friday upgraded the global risk from the new coronavirus to "very high", saying the continued increase in cases and countries affected was "clearly of concern".

"We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level," World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.