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How Coronavirus is spreading: A detailed Timeline

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GUWAHATI: The death toll from the Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has reached 1770 as of Sunday in mainland China. Across the country, there were 2,048 new confirmed infections, about 1,933 from Hubei alone, pushing the new total to 70,548.The cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already declared a global health emergency.

China’s National Health Commission has announced today morning that at least 100 new deaths were from Hubei province, the epicentre of Coronavirus.

Here is the detailed timeline of the epidemic which has also reached India:

December 31, 2019

China alerted WHO to several cases of unusual pneumonia in Wuhan, a port city of 11 million people in the central Hubei province. The virus was unknown.

Several of those infected worked at the city’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which was shut down on January 1.

As health experts worked to identify the virus amid growing alarm, the number of infections exceeded 40.

January 5, 2020

Officials of China ruled out the possibility that this was a recurrence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus – an illness that originated in China and killed more than 770 people worldwide in 2002-2003.

January 7

Officials announced identification of a new virus under Coronavirus family. The new virus was named as 2019-nCoV.

January 11

China announced the first death from Novel Coronavirus. The 61 year old man had purchased goods from the seafood market. Treatment didnot improve his sympostoms and died on January 0.

January 13

Who reported a case in Thailand, the first time outside China. The patient was a woman who arrived from China.

January 16

Japan’s health ministry reported a confirmed case in a man who had also visited Wuhan.

January 17

After the second death was reported in Wuhan, ealth authorities in the US announced that three airports would start screening passengers arriving from the city.

Authorities in the US, Nepal, France, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan confirmed cases over the following days. 

Sources: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University; National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China; local governments. Japan’s count includes 454 cases on a cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama. Data as of 4:00 a.m. E.T., Feb. 17.
Sources: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University; National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China; local governments. Japan’s count includes 454 cases on a cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama. Data as of 4:00 a.m. E.T., Feb. 17.

 

January 20

China reported a third death and more than 200 infections, with cases also reported outside Hubei province including in the capital Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

January 22

The death toll in China jumped to 17 with more than 550 infections.

January 23

Wuhan was placed under effective quarantine and air and rail departures were suspended.The same measures were announced for two more cities in Hubei province: Xiantao and Chibi.

WHO stated that the outbreak did not yet constitute a public emergency of international concern and there was “no evidence” of the virus spreading between humans outside of China.

January 24

The death toll in China rose to to 26 with more than 830 infections.

The number of cities under lockdown in Hubei rose to 13, affecting 41 million people.

Image courtesy: Aljazeera
Image courtesy: Aljazeera

 

January 25

Travel restrictions were imposed on a further five cities in Hubei, taking the overall number of people affected to 56 million.Hongkong announced a virus emergency.

January 26

Death toll rose to 56, around 2000 Coronavirus cases were confirmed.

January 27

Death toll in China rose to 106. 100 deaths reported from Hubei province.

January 30

World Health Organisation (WHO) declared outbreak of Coronavirus as a global emergency.

Death toll in China jumped to 170. Virus spread to all the 31 provinces of the country.

India and the Philippines confirmed their first cases of the virus, with one infected patient in each country. The first case of Coronavirus in India was reported from Kerala.

Source: Aljazeera
Source: Aljazeera

 

January 31

Number of confirmed cases in China increased to 9809. Russia, Spain, Sweden and the UK confirmed their first cases of the virus.

February 1

Death toll in China rose to 259, with 11,791 confirmed infections in the country, according to new figures released by the Chinese health authority.

February 2

The first death outside of China, a Chinese man from Wuhan, was reported in the Philippines.

The death toll in China rose to 304, with 14,380 infections reported.

February 3

China reported 57 new fatalities, bringing its death toll to at least 361. The number of cases rose to 17,205 across the country.

February 4

China said the death toll rose to 425 people and the number of infected people stood at 20,438 in the mainland. Hong Kong also reported one death, bringing global fatalities to 427. The first case was confirmed in Belgium in a person who was repatriated from Wuhan.

February 5

Who said that there was “no known effective treatment” for the Coronavirus.

Death toll in China jumped to 490 and 24324 cases of infection.

February 6

The death toll in mainland China rose to at least 563, with more than 28,000 cases confirmed.

February 7

Li Wenliang, a doctor who was among the first to sound the alarm over the coronavirus, died, and Hong Kong introduced prison sentences for anyone breaching quarantine rules.

February 8

A US citizen died in Wuhan.

A man from japan in his 60s with a suspected coronavirus infection also died in hospital in Wuhan, Japan’s foreign ministry said.

The death toll in China reached 722, with 34,546 confirmed infections.

February 9

811 deaths and 37198 cases of infectionsin recorded in China.
An investigation team comprised of WHO experts left for China.

February 10

China had 908 confirmed deaths and a total of 40,171 infections – 97 new fatalities were reported following the deadliest day of the outbreak.

President Xi Jinping appeared in public for the first time since the epidemic began, visiting a hospital in Beijing and urging confidence in the battle against the virus.

February 11

WHO announced that the new Coronavirus would be called “COVID-19”.

Deaths in China reached reached 1016, with 42638 infections recorded.

February 12

Death toll in China rose to 1113. 44653 infection cases reported.

February 13

North Korea imposed a month-long quarantine on all foreign visitors and others suspected to have COVID-19.

The death toll in mainland China hit 1,300, with nearly 60,000 infections recorded. Meanwhile, Japan confirmed its first death from the virus.

February 14

Egypt became the first country in Africa to report a case and France reported Europe’s first fatality from the virus.

China reported 121 more deaths, bringing to the total number across the mainland to nearly 1400.

February 15

The death toll in mainland China touched 1500, with 66492 infections confirmed in mainland China.

Elsewhere, the United States prepared to evacuate its citizens from a cruise ship quarantined at a Japanese dock.

Meanwhile, a February 3 speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping, published by state media, indicated the government knew about the threat of the virus well before the public alarm was raised.

February 16

Taiwan recorded its first death due to the coronavirus, a taxi driver in his 60s.

Authorities reported that 1665 people had died in mainland China with 68,500 cases of infection reported.

February 17

China’s National Health Commission has announced that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China reached 1,770 as of the end of Sunday, up by 105 from the previous day.

Thailand has recorded one new case of coronavirus, bringing the total in the country to 35 since January, a senior health official said on Monday.
Japan said Monday it would cancel a public gathering to celebrate the birthday of new Emperor Naruhito, as fears grow over the spread of the new coronavirus in the country.

With inputs from Aljazeera

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