As the risk of coming across coronavirus grows, it is time to ban mass gatherings?

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday there's currently no advice to cancel events and he's going the footy on the weekend. And the Victorian Premier said on Wednesday that his advice was there was no need to cancel the Grand Prix.

So should you avoid mass gatherings?

On the show today:

* What does the World Health Organisation declaration of a pandemic mean?

* Is Tom Hanks going to be ok?

* Are people who have asthma at greater risk?

And Dr Norman Swan explains what the research is telling us about what the most reliable ways to test for coronavirus are.

If you want to send in a question, go to abc.net.au/coronavirus and we might answer it tomorrow on the podcast.