The risk for people living or travelling in Europe to be infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been levelled up by the European Centre for Disease Prevention Control (ECDC), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Monday.

According to the daily ECDC risk assessment published on Monday, the risk associated with COVID-19 infection for people in the EU/EEA and UK is currently considered "moderate to high", Xinhua reported.

In its previous assessment published on February 23, the assessment was low to moderate.

"In other words the virus continues to spread," von der Leyen told a press conference in Brussels.

The ECDC has made the assessment on a daily basis for more than a week, since the outbreak of the epidemic in northern Italy. So far more than 20 European countries have reported COVID-19 infection cases.

Praising the efforts made by the European Commission to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, von der Leyen also announced the establishment of a COVID-19 response team that comprises high-profile commissioners.