The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to “very high” – its top level of risk assessment, the BBC reports.
But the UN body said there was still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission were broken.
WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also stressed that fear and misinformation were the biggest challenges to overcome.
More than 50 countries have now reported cases of coronavirus.
Globally, more than 80,000 people have been infected. About 2,800 have died – the vast majority in China’s Hubei province. China confirmed another 327 cases – the lowest daily increase for a month – along with 44 deaths.
