WHO Calls Coronavirus in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan Its ‘Greatest Concern’

South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are the World Health Organization's "greatest concern" when it comes to the coronavirus outbreak.

"We are in uncharted territory," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said at a press conference on Monday.

There are roughly 89,000 cases of coronavirus reported across the globe and more than 3,000 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

The organization said that there were nearly nine times more coronavirus cases reported outside of China than inside of the country in the past 24 hours.

China's new cases continue to decline. It reported just 206 cases on Sunday, which is the lowest number of new cases for the country since Jan 22.

More than half of the cases outside China come from South Korea. It has reported over 4,300 cases and 26 deaths. Tedros said that these cases appear to be centered around five known clusters of cases.

Outside of Asia, Italy has the most reported cases of coronavirus, with roughly 1,700 cases and 34 deaths.

However, the highest number of deaths outside of China comes from Iran. A WHO team arrived in Iran on Monday to deliver supplies and support to the Iranian government, which has reported 1,500 cases and 66 deaths. WHO confirmed on Monday that a staffer in its Iran country office has a mild case of coronavirus.

The European Union raised its risk alert level for the coronavirus from moderate to high on Monday. Still, WHO has not yet declared the outbreak a pandemic.

"WHO will not hesitate to describe this as a pandemic if that's what the evidence suggests," Tedros said.