Coronavirus in United States. Concept for quarantine and recession. 5 dollar banknote with a face mask against CoV infection. Global economy hit by corona virus outbreak and pandemic. Digital montage

The COVID-19 (new coronavirus) crisis has now reached global pandemic status, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday, reports CNBC.

COVID-19 is a type of coronavirus caused by SAR-CoV-2.

A thirteen fold rise in COVID-19 cases outside of China and tripling of nations impacted by the new coronavirus in the last two weeks helped lead to WHO's declaration. WHO expects to see the number of new COVID-19 cases, as well as the number of deaths caused by these cases, to grow in the coming weeks, said its director-general, Tedros Adhanom, in a press conference.

A global pandemic can be defined as an illness that spreads throughout the world. WHO is typically careful to declare a global pandemic, as the announcement can have a number of societal and economic ramifications. Stock markets, business education and travel have already been impacted by the new coronavirus.

For more information on COVID-19, click here.