The Health Organization said on Friday that Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, in a major step towards the end of the pandemic that has killed millions and damaged the global economy and societies.
"I declare COVID-19 no longer a global health emergency," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters, estimating that the pandemic had killed "at least 20 million people," a toll three times higher than official estimates.
The following is a chronology of events from the discovery of Corona until it was declared a pandemic:
December 31, 2019
The municipal health commission in Wuhan, China, has reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in the city in Hubei province. This later led to the discovery of the novel coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization.
January 1, 2020
WHO has established the Incident Management Support Team (IMSG) across WHO's three levels: headquarters, regional headquarters and country level, to put WHO on an emergency path to respond to the outbreak.
January 4
WHO is reporting on social media that a cluster of pneumonia cases, without deaths, has emerged in the city of Wuhan.
January 5
WHO broadcasts the first news about the new virus on its Disease Outbreak News page, a major technical publication aimed at the scientific and public health community, as well as the global media. It included a risk assessment, WHO advice, and reported on China's patient situation and public health response to the cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan.
January 10
WHO is issuing an integrated package of electronic technical guidance with advice for countries on how to detect, screen and manage potential cases, based on the knowledge available about the virus at that stage. Guidance was sent to emergency managers in regional offices for dissemination to WHO representatives in countries.
At the time, the data referred to "zero or limited human-to-human transmission." Based on experiences with SARS, MERS and known transmission patterns of respiratory viruses, WHO has issued guidance on infection prevention and control to protect health workers, including recommendations for droplet and contact protection precautions when caring for patients, and precautions for protection against airborne transmission in obstetric care settings. For spray conducted by health workers.
January 12
China publishes genetic sequencing of the virus that causes COVID-19.
January 13
Officials in Thailand confirm the first case of COVID-19 and the first case recorded outside China.
January 14
In a media briefing, the head of the WHO Technical Response Team notes the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (in 41 confirmed cases) mainly between members of the same household, and the possibility of a wider outbreak. Human transmission would not be surprising in light of the experiences of SARS, MERS and other respiratory pathogens.
January 20
WHO experts from its regional offices in China and the Western Pacific conduct a short field visit to Wuhan.
January 22
WHO mission to China issues a statement confirming evidence of human-to-human transmission in Wuhan, with further investigation needed to understand the full extent of the transmission pattern.
22-23 January
WHO Director-General convenes the Emergency Committee established under the International Health Regulations (2005) to assess whether the outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Independent members from around the world did not reach consensus based on the evidence available at that stage. They requested that the Committee be reconvened within 10 days after receiving further information.
January 28
A high-level WHO delegation led by Ghebreyesus is visiting Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders, brief more on the Chinese response, and offer technical assistance.
During the visit, Ghebreyesus agreed with Chinese leaders to send an international team of elite scientists to visit the country on a mission aimed at achieving a better understanding of the context, overall response and sharing of information and experiences.
January 30
Ghebreyesus reconvenes the emergency committee, before the scheduled ten days have elapsed, and just two days after the first reports of limited person-to-person transmission outside China. The Committee reached consensus and advised the Director-General that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), who in turn agreed with the recommendation and declared the COVID-19 outbreak indeed a public health emergency of international concern. This is the sixth time WHO has declared such an emergency since the IHR entered into force in 2005.
February 11
The disease caused by the coronavirus has been named "COVID-19" which is an acronym for coronavirus disease 2019. The name does not refer to any of the people, places or animals associated with the coronavirus, given the aim of avoiding stigma.
February 14
France has announced the first coronavirus death on the European continent.
February 26
Latin America reported its first case of COVID-19. Brazilian health officials said a 61-year-old Sao Paulo man who recently returned from a business trip to Italy had tested positive for the coronavirus. This was the first known case on the continent.
February 29
The United States has reported a death, and authorities announced that a patient near Seattle died from the coronavirus, believed to be the first death from the virus at the time. In fact, two people died earlier, although COVID-19 diagnoses were not discovered until months later.
March 11, 2020
The Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 a "pandemic" out of grave concern about the alarming level and severity of the outbreak, as well as the alarming level of inaction.