The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (L) attends a daily briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Chen Junxia)

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday raised the risk assessment of COVID-19 from high to very high at global level.

"Our epidemiologists have been monitoring these developments continuously, and we have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at a global level," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, at a daily briefing.