WHO labels Covid-19 a 'pandemic'

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. - AP

GENEVA (AFP): The World Health Organization called the new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday (March 11), issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was due to "alarming levels of inaction".

The call came as Europe faced a mounting number of cases -- including a slew of new countries clocking first deaths -- prompting governments to roll out increasingly tough measures to slow the rapid spread of the virus.