LONDON : Britain and the United States warned on Tuesday that government-backed hackers are attempting to break into healthcare and research institutions involved in the global response to the new coronavirus outbreak.

In a joint statement, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the hackers "are actively targeting organisations involved in both national and international COVID-19 responses".

The attacks were likely parts of efforts by the hackers to "obtain intelligence on national and international healthcare policy or acquire sensitive data on COVID-19 related research", the agencies said.