The European Union’s risk alert level for the novel coronavirus has been raised from moderate to high, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a Monday news conference.

“ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) has announced today that the risk level has risen from moderate to high for people in the European Union, in other words, the virus continues to spread,” von der Leyen said.

There have been more than 2,000 confirmed cases in the EU, with the bulk of the outbreak happening in Italy.

Watch the press conference live from the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre on the EU's response to #COVID19.

With @vonderleyen, @JanezLenarcic, @SKyriakidesEU, @YlvaJohansson, @AdinaValean and @PaoloGentilonihttps://t.co/DBRYLt4tKc

— European Commission ?? (@EU_Commission) March 2, 2020

The EU’s Crisis Management Commissioner, Janez Lenarčič, told the news conference that every country needed to be prepared.

“While we should not give in to panic, the situation is likely to still get worse. So we need to be prepared. Time is of the essence here.”