Date
|
Event
|
Event
|
Late 2019
|
Co-19 jumps from animal to human; best
guess this happens at the “wet market” (1)
|
|
01 DEC 19
|
First signs of onset in 53 yro woman with
no known history of exposure to the market, with pneumonia; in isolation
ward.” (ibid)
|
|
21 DEC 19
|
C0-19 Genome identified in cluster of
pneumonia cases in Wuhan (2)
|
|
29 DEC 19
|
Additional evidence of human to human
transmission when hospital staff at two Wuhan hospitals are quarantined with pneumonia
(3)
|
|
“Late” December
|
One study from China reported in the New
England Journal of Medicine looks at 425 subjects and reports that the
disease has spread to “more than a dozen countries.” (4)
|
|
30 DEC 19
|
Dr. Li Wenliang makes online warnings of
an outbreak; Is warned by the government to stop, then is disappeared (5)
|
|
31 DEC 19
|
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission states
“the investigation so far has not found any obvious human-to-human transmission
and no medical staff infected.” (ibid)
|
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission
reports a cluster of pneumonia cases; Novel Coronavirus eventually identified
|
|
Three weeks after first cases, China
notifies WHO (6)
|
|
|
public-health expert and former official
with Shanghai’s center for disease control and prevention, tells the South
China Morning Post, “I think we are [now] quite capable of killing it in
the beginning phase, reporting 27 infections all of viral pneumonia; no
human-to-human infections, no medical staff infections (7)
|
|
1 JAN 20
|
Dr. Li Wenliang receives summons to
police department; accused of “spreading rumors”; after 2 days he signs his acknowledgement;
he will die of the disease within 2 weeks; 7 others are arrested on the same
charges
|
WHO had set up the IMST (Incident
Management Support Team) across the three levels of the organization:
headquarters, regional headquarters and country level, putting the
organization on an emergency footing for dealing with the outbreak.
|
|
Hubei Provincial Health Commission
orders companies to stop testing suspected samples from Wuhan and destroy all
samples (8)
|
|
|
Per Caixin Global, claimed 3,000 lives
and is in more than 50 countries (ibid)
|
|
|
NYT studied cellphone data found that
175,000 people left Wuhan this day; global travel data shows that 21 countries
have direct flights from Wuhan; US would not ban travel from China for
another month (9, 10)
|
|
2 JAN 20
|
Study verifies 27 of 41 patients to
Huanan Market, verifies human-to-human transmission (11)
|
|
|
Wuhan Institute of Virology maps genome;
China withholds announcement for another week (12)
|
|
3 JAN 20
|
China’s National Health Commission, the
top health authority, orders that no one publish any information about the
new virus, total black out; all samples go to “authorized locations” or are destroyed
(13)
|
|
|
US CDC is notified of new coronavirus
|
|
|
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission
released another statement, repeating, “As of now, preliminary investigations
have shown no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical
staff infections.” (14)
|
|
4 JAN 20
|
Chinese officials insist that this is
not a threat, Hong Kong is not convinced, “Hong Kong’s Centre for Infection,
Ho Pak-leung, warned that “the city should implement the strictest possible
monitoring system for a mystery new viral pneumonia that has infected dozens
of people on the mainland, as it is highly possible that the illness is
spreading from human to human.”
|
WHO reported on social media that there
was a cluster of pneumonia cases – with no deaths – in Wuhan, Hubei province.
|
5 JAN 20
|
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission “no
clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infection.”
|
WHO published our first Disease Outbreak News on the new virus.
This is a flagship technical publication to the scientific and public health
community as well as global media. It contained a risk assessment and
advice and reported on what China had told the organization about the status
of patients and the public health response on the cluster of pneumonia cases
in Wuhan.
|
6 JAN 20
|
NYT Runs first report on virus, states
that 59 people have been sickened in Wuhan by a pneumonia-like illness (15)
|
|
|
Singapore Duke-NUS medical expert on
emerging infections Wang Linfa complains that scientists are prohibited from
speaking about the infection
|
|
|
CDC issues a Level 1 Travel Watch (16)
|
|
|
CDC offers to send an investigatory team
to China to assist, which the Chinese government refuses (17)
|
|
8 Jan 20
|
Chinese authorities claim to have
identified the virus; Chinese authorities and Western media repeat the claim
that there is no evidence of human-to-human spread (18)
|
|
|
WHO official statement praises China,
does not warn travelers, and advises against travel and trade restrictions
|
|
10 JAN 20
|
Dr. Li Wanliang unknowingly treats a
patient with Cv-19; by 12 JAN Dr. Li is hospitalized and put into the ICU, he
dies six days later
|
WHO issues technical guidance on detecting,
testing, and managing potential cases.
|
|
NYT quotes Wuhan City Health authorities
in that there remains no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and that
infection comes from the wet market (19); Chinese doctors find infections/
transmission among family members (20)
|
|
13 JAN 20
|
Thailand first Co-19 patient, 61-year-old
Chinese woman from Wuhan; reports are that she had not visited the wet
market, but one that sold and slaughtered various animals also located in
Wuhan
|
Officials confirm first case in Thailand,
first official case outside China
|
14 JAN 20
|
Wuhan City Health Officials continue
claim that even among close family members there is no transmission of
illness (site no longer available); WHO parrots Chinese official statement (22)
|
WHO’s technical lead notes that there
may have been human-to-human transmission among the 41 confirmed cases; this
is mainly through tight family contact, but there is a risk of larger contamination
|
15 JAN 20
|
Japan first human case reported;
According to the Japanese health ministry the patient had not been to any
animal market, but was likely in contact with a person who was infected but
unaware of the infection
|
|
|
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission begins
to change its story, now declares that human-to-human transmission is not likely,
but may be possible since it is appearing in other countries
|
|
17 and 18 JAN 20
|
CDC, HHS, and DHS announce that
screening will begin at three ports of entry (San Fran, NYC/JFK, and LAX) (23)
|
|
19 JAN 20
|
Chinese National Health Commission on
Co-19, “still preventable and controllable (24)
|
|
|
WHO says that not enough is known to draw
conclusions about transmission, features of the disease, how it’s spread, or
even where it started (ibid)
|
|
20 JAN 20
|
Wuhan Municipal Health Commission denies
human-to-human for the last time; China’s National Health Commission confirms
two cases of human-to-human infection; Wuhan Evening News puts the virus on
the front page for the first time since 5 JAN 20
|
WHO officials visit Wuhan
|
21 JAN 20
|
First US case of C0-19 announced (25)
|
|
|
Millions have already left the city of
Wuhan
|
|
22 JAN 20
|
WHO Director General Ghebreyesus continues
to praise China for handling the Co-19 outbreak, says that he was very
impressed by the depth and detail of China’s work against the virus (26);
|
WHO Mission states that there was
evidence of human-to-human transmission (three days after it has already been
announced by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission)
|
23 JAN 20
|
Chinese authorities take first steps to
quarantine Wuhan after millions have already transited the infection center
and left;
|
|
28 JAN 20
|
|
WHO Delegation goes to Beijing to learn
more about the Chinese government’s response
|
30 JAN 20
|
|
WHO Director General Ghebreyesus
reconvenes the Emergency Commission. The EC states that Co-19 presents a
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
|
3 FEB 20
|
|
WHO releases its response plan
|
11 FEB 20
|
|
WHO convenes a Research and Innovation
Forum
|
16 FEB 20
|
|
There is a WHO-China joint mission to
speak to health workers, health officials, and scientists in Wuhan and
Beijing.
|
11 MAR 20
|
|
WHO Characterizes Co-19 as a pandemic
|
13 MAR 20
|
|
WHO begins taking donations through the
COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
|
18 MAR 20
|
|
WHO Launches Solidarity Trial to
generate data from around the world to find the
most effective treatments for COVID-19.
|
