The World Health Organization has declared the worldwide outbreak of the new coronavirus as a global pandemic, with more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths.

As of Wednesday, 114 countries including Nigeria have reported that 118,000 have contracted Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, known as SARS-CoV2.

“We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

Until now, the W.H.O. had avoided using the term to describe the epidemic leapfrogging across the world, for fear of giving the impression that it was unstoppable and countries would give up on trying to contain it.

According to the W.H.O., an epidemic is defined as a regional outbreak of an illness that spreads unexpectedly. In 2010, it defined a pandemic as “the worldwide spread of a new disease” that affects large numbers of people.

The W.H.O. had not declared a pandemic since 2009, when it gave that designation to a new strain of H1N1 influenza.

The virus continued to spread in the United States and appeared in new countries including Bolivia and Turkey, while Indonesia and Sweden recorded their first deaths.

More than 66,000 people have recovered from the illness around the world, according to John Hopkins University.

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has jumped in the last 24 hours by 196 to 827, the largest rise since the contagion came to light in the country on February 21.

The total number of cases in Italy rose to 12,462 from a previous 10,149, according to the Civil Protection Agency.

The virus causes mild respiratory infections in about 80% of those infected, though about half will have pneumonia. Another 15% develop severe illness and 5% need critical care.