Brief History of the First Three Weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 outbreak appears to have originated in the Wuhan area of Hubei Province in China in November or December of 2019. Although information about the outbreak was initially suppressed by Chinese officials (link), by December 30, 2019, various Chinese media reports publicly emerged about a “viral pneumonia” occurring in the area (link). The first major public tracking effort of this pandemic started at FluTrackers.com. In a thread started by penguinsix on December 31, 2019, members of FluTrackers.com, a volunteer organization tracking infection diseases around the world, began compiling media reports about the spread of this novel disease outbreak (link).

On December 31, 2019, the Centre for Health Protection in Hong Kong noted that they were monitoring an outbreak of 27 cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China (link). On January 1, 2020, Chinese authority shut down the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market where it was believed that the virus made the jump to humans from an animal species in the market (link). By January 3, the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection was monitoring 44 cases of this novel disease (link, link). Within a few days, China officially reported 44 case-patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology to the World Health Organization (link) as required by International Health Regulations, Article 6.

On January 6, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States issued a Level 1, travel warning to the Wuhan area of China (link). On January 7, Chinese scientists determined that a new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was causing this outbreak of viral pneumonia (link, link). Three days later, on January 10, the genome of this novel coronavirus was made publicly available (link, link). By January 8, the number of cases in Wuhan area climbed to 59 (link). On January 9, China reported its first official death from the coronavirus, a 61-year-old male who frequented the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market (link).

A few days later, the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 was detected outside of China in Thailand (link). On January 13, the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand reported that an infected 61-year-old Chinese woman was detected by surveillance at the Bangkok airport. The woman was a resident of Wuhan, China, and was apparently ill for several days before her arrival at the Thailand airport on January 8.

Three days later, on January 16, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, announced the detection of the first COVID-19 case in Japan (link). The individual was a Japanese resident in his 30s from the Kanagawa prefecture who tested positive after returning from a visit to the Wuhan area in China (link). Japan became the second county outside of China to report a COVID-19 case.

The following day, January 17, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare reported a second confirmed COVID-19 cases to the World Health Organization (link). A man, living in Japan, had traveled to Wuhan, China, in early January where he developed symptoms, but tested negative for influenza when he returned to Japan. After returning, he continued to have symptoms and was hospitalized. Public official conducted two separate tests on January 14 and determined he had been infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Three days later, on 20 January 2020, public health officials in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) reported the first case of novel coronavirus in the that county. The case was a 35-year-old female, Chinese national residing in Wuhan, China, who started exhibiting symptoms on the January 18 in China (link). The symptomatic individual was detected when she arrived at the Incheon International Airport on January 19, and was confirmed on January 20.

By January 20, four deaths had been attributed to COVID-19 infections in China, all from Hubei Province. The reported cases in China reached a total 291; Hubei Province 270, Guangdong 14. Beijing 5, and Shanghai 2 (link). The four reported cases from outside of China were Thailand 2, Japan 1, and Republic of Korea 1, all occurring as imported cases.

On January 21, The World Health Organization began publishing its daily situation report on this new disease (link). Also, on January 21, a team from Johns Hopkins University set up one of the first internet websites for live tracking the global outbreak of COVID-19 (link). According to World Health Organization by the end of the day on January 21, there were 314 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 309 from China, 2 from Thailand and 1 each from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (link).

The following day, on January 22, the United States of America became the fourth country in the world to report a confirmed COVID-19 case according to the World Health Organization.¹ The individual was a 35-year-old male who had spent several months travelling in the Wuhan area before returning to the United States. On January 15 he returned to his home in Snohomish County, Washington, and the next day started exhibiting symptoms. Test by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on January 20 determined that this individual was infected with COVID-19 (link, link). He became the first COVID-19 case in the United States.

A few days later on January 25, the World Health Organization reported a worldwide total of 1320 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Besides China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported from five additional countries, Viet Nam, Singapore, Australia, Nepal, and France (link).

And by the end of that week, the coronavirus outbreak was the lead story of international news around the world. It was not a “Wuhan Flu” or the “Chinese virus” and it was no longer just a Chinese problem. The entire world was in danger. On February 11, the World Health Organization named the disease COVID-19 (link) and a month later on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic (link). That was only the beginning.

Notes

1. By January 22, Macao and Taiwan had reported cases, but the World Health Organization considers these area as administrative regions associated with the Peoples Republic of China.

Edited March 24, 2020 to add information to note that FluTrackers.com was the first organization to note and track the beginning of this pandemic.