Watch live: World Health Organization holds press conference on the coronavirus outbreak in Europe

• World Health Organization officials are holding a press conference to update the public on the coronavirus outbreak in Europe. 
• WHO officials identified Europe as the new epicenter for the disease on Friday. 
• Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 183,000 people and has killed at least 7,100. 

World Health Organization officials are holding a press conference to update the public on the coronavirus outbreak in Europe.

On Wednesday, WHO officials declared COVID-19 a pandemic after the virus rapidly spread from Asia, where the virus was first detected, to people in the Middle East, Europe and North America. While several countries have been able to contain the virus, others have struggled to act quickly enough or drastically enough to do the same, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference Wednesday. 

Tedros identified Europe as the new epicenter for the disease on Friday as more cases are now being reported in the region every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic. Italy has been hit especially hard, reporting the most cases outside China with at least 27,900 people infected, according to Johns Hopkins University data. 

Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 183,000 people and has killed at least 7,100, according to data from JHU.  

Read CNBC's live updates to see the latest news on the COVID-19 outbreak.