Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 211,000 people worldwide.

More than three million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 988,000 diagnosed cases and at least 56,253 deaths.

Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:

3:30 a.m: Pandemic ‘far from over’ and ‘the world should have listened,’ WHO says

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the pandemic is “far from over” and said “the world should have listened” to the agency three months ago when it declared the novel coronavirus a global health emergency.

After the new virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and began to spread overseas, Tedros said the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak “the highest level of global emergency” on Jan. 30.

“During that time, as you may remember, there were only 82 cases outside China. No cases in Latin America, actually. No cases in Africa. Only 10 cases in Europe. No deaths in the rest of the world, nothing,” Tedros said. “And every country could have triggered all its public health measures possible.”

“The world should have listened to WHO then, carefully,” he added.

The declaration officially called a “public health emergency of international concern” — cannot force countries to take action, rather it’s merely guidance. The role of the WHO, the health arm of the United Nations, is only to offer advice “based on science and evidence,” and it’s up to governments “whether to take it or not,” Tedros said.

“We advised the whole world to implement a comprehensive public health approach, and we said, find, test, isolate and do contract tracing,” he continued. “We don’t have any mandate to force countries to implement what we advise them.”

Tedros said the countries who followed the agency’s advice “are in a better position than others.”

“This is fact,” he added. “At the end of the day, each country takes its own responsibility.”  

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.