The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths outside China has now overtaken the figures in the Asian country, where the coronavirus was first detected in December.

Until now, the numbers for China alone have outstripped the combined figures for the rest of the world.

The latest situation report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) dated of March 16, showed there were now 167 511 confirmed cases worldwide with 6 606 deaths.

Of these, China had 81 077 confirmed cases, with 3 218 deaths. That means the rest of the world accounted for 86 434 confirmed cases from 151 countries, with 3 388 deaths.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world health body was worried that not enough was being done in testing.

"In the past week, we have seen a rapid escalation of cases of Covid-19. More cases and deaths have now been reported in the rest of the world than in China," he said.

"We have also seen a rapid escalation in social distancing measures, like closing schools and cancelling sporting events and other gatherings. But we have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing – which is the backbone of the response."

He said social distancing measures could help to reduce transmission and enable health systems to cope, but were not on their own enough to extinguish the pandemic.

"It’s the combination that makes the difference...You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected. We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test," said Ghebreyesus.

He call on countries to test every suspected case.

"If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to two days before they developed symptoms, and test those people too," he said.

WHO recommends testing contacts of confirmed cases only if they show symptoms of Covid-19 and says all confirmed cases, even mild ones, should be isolated in health facilities, to prevent transmission and provide adequate care.