The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday called on countries around the world to take "immediate action" to limit the spread of the coronavirus quickly.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference that the world was at a crucial phase in the pandemic, especially the Northern Hemisphere, while some countries were facing the prospect of their health services being overwhelmed.

"The next few months are going to be very tough and some countries are on a dangerous track," he said.

"We urge leaders to take immediate action, to prevent further unnecessary deaths, essential health services from collapsing and schools shutting again. As I said it in February and I'm repeating it today: This is not a drill."

Ghebreyesus said it was worrying that several countries were now seeing an "exponential increase" in infections.

"Too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in COVID-19 cases and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units running close or above capacity and we're still only in October."

He added that countries could take certain steps to avoid mandatory lockdowns such as improving testing, tracing of contacts of those infected and isolation of those at risk of spreading the virus.

As of October 23, there are so far 41,570,883 confirmed coronavirus cases with 218 countries, areas or territories reporting cases and the death toll stands at 1,134,940, according to the WHO.

(With input from agencies)