Paris (AFP)
Here are the main stages of the epidemic caused by the new coronavirus, since its emergence at the end of December in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan (center).
The toll rises Friday to 636 dead and nearly 32,000 contaminations in mainland China. Thirty countries and territories have confirmed cases of infection.
- First alert -
On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities alert the World Health Organization (WHO) to the emergence of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan (11 million inhabitants), capital of central Hubei province .
Several patients worked in a wholesale food market, closed by the authorities on January 1.
On January 7, 2020, the first Chinese analyzes made it possible to identify a new coronavirus.
- First death -
On the 11th, Beijing announced the first death.
The 13th, first case of contamination outside of China, in Thailand.
Several major airports are implementing screening.
- Human transmission -
On the 20th, the transmission between humans is confirmed.
Almost half of the Chinese provinces are affected.
The next day, the first case in the United States.
- 56 million inhabitants confined -
On the 23rd, trains and planes departing from Wuhan no longer operate, the highways are blocked. Chinese New Year festivities are canceled in Beijing.
On the 24th, two deaths were reported in China far from the cradle of the epidemic.
Three cases are confirmed in France, the first in Europe.
On the 25th, practically the entire province of Hubei was cut off from the world, more than 56 million inhabitants confined.
On the 26th, Beijing suspends organized trips in China and abroad.
- Repatriations -
On the 28th, the first two cases of direct transmission of the virus outside of China were confirmed (Japan and Germany).
The 29, first cases in the Middle East, in the United Arab Emirates.
Japan and the United States are beginning to repatriate their nationals. Airlines suspend or reduce flights to China.
- International emergency -
On the 30th, Russia decides to close its border with China.
The WHO classifies the epidemic as "a public health emergency of international scope", but considers that there is no reason to limit travel and trade with China.
On the 31st, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea repatriate nationals. Other countries will do the same on the following days.
After Chinese and Australian teams, the Institut Pasteur in Paris manages to cultivate strains of the virus.
- First death outside of China -
On February 2, the Chinese city of Wenzhou (9 million inhabitants) was confined. The Philippines reports the first death outside China, a Chinese native of Wuhan.
On February 3, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which had been closed since January 24, plunged. It will rebound in the following days.
Beijing accuses Washington of "sowing panic", after the ban on the entry on its territory of foreigners who recently went to China. This measure is also taken by other countries.
- A dead man in Hong Kong -
On the 4th, a Hong Kong man becomes the second coronavirus death outside mainland China.
In Wuhan, a hospital built in 10 days welcomes its first patients.
The new coronavirus is not yet a "pandemic," says WHO.
In South Korea, the automaker Hyundai is suspending all production, putting some 25,000 workers out of work.
- Contaminated cruises -
On the 5th, the aeronautical group Airbus announces the closure of the assembly site for its A320 near Beijing.
Thousands of passengers are in quarantine on two cruise ships near Tokyo and Hong Kong, after the discovery of cases of coronavirus.
Airlines suspend flights to Hong Kong.
On the 6th, Saudi Arabia formally prohibited trips to China to Saudis and its foreign residents.
In China, workers in a giant factory producing iPhones learn that they will be quarantined for at least a week after returning from vacation in mid-February.
- Death of a whistleblower -
On the 7th, a Wuhan doctor, Li Wenliang, punished for giving the alert to the appearance of the virus, succumbs to the epidemic, raising popular anger in China.
The number of coronavirus cases found on the quarantined cruise liner in Japan climbed to 61.
Chinese President Xi Jinping assures Donald Trump that his country is "fully capable" of defeating the coronavirus.
"The world is facing a chronic lack of personal protective equipment," warns the WHO.
© 2020 AFP