As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread outside of China with hundreds of confirmed cases on a daily basis, experts say the situation is rapidly moving toward what's known as a pandemic, CBC News reports.

But World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday he is not yet ready to categorize the increased number of COVID-19 cases as a pandemic.

"For the moment, we're not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus and we are not witnessing large-scale severe diseases or deaths," he said during a media briefing.

"Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely it has. Are we there yet? From our assessment, not yet."

He said the decision was based on an ongoing assessment of the spread of the virus worldwide, the severity of the disease it causes and the impact it has on society.

As of Monday, the WHO said China had reported 77,362 cases of COVID-19, including 2,618 deaths. There were another 2,074 cases in 28 other countries, including 10 in Canada, and 23 deaths.