The World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu declared coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday as he expressed deep concern about “alarming levels of inaction” in the fight against the spread of the disease.

The number of cases outside China has increased 13-fold, said Ghebreyesus, and the number of affected countries has tripled. There are 126,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 people have lost their lives.

“Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospital,” Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the many cases, the many deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher. “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.”

Following the declaration many countries have put a travel ban in order to quarantine. United States has suspended all travel from Europe for 30 days as death toll in the country reached 31. Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and his wife have also tested positive for the covid-19 when they were shootig for  movie in Australia.

India has also suspended all visas till April 15 amid a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the last two weeks. Sixty-seven people in India have tested positive for the illness, which has spread to over 100 countries, killed over 4,5000, and a major chunk of them are tourists from Italy.

A government communique said all incoming travellers, including Indian nationals from COVID-19 nations – China Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany, after February 15, shall be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days.