Since its outbreak in China last December, the novel coronavirus claimed 3,383 lives and 97,945 people were infected with the fast-spreading disease.
The virus, now infected mainland China, its provinces and Taiwan along with 84 other countries, has beaten SARS- and MERS-associated coronavirus in terms of its infection speed and death toll.
Here are the markers of the the deadly virus threatening the global public health:
- Wuhan, Chinese epicenter of outbreak
On Dec. 31, 2019, China announced a mysterious respiratory tract disease, with the source yet unknown.
This disease caused pneumonia, and was thought to have been caused by an unknown virus.
On Jan. 1, Wuhan Sea Food Market was shut down, which had been visited by the first patients diagnosed.
On Jan. 3, the number of people infected with the disease rose to 44. It was found that the genetic structure of the virus was 80% similar to that of SARS, which had spread to the world from China in 2002-2003.
- Novel coronavirus
On Jan. 7, the World Health Organization announced that the disease was not SARS but it was caused by a new coronavirus, a beta-coronavirus which originally found in bats but mutated while passing to humans. The new coronavirus was named 2019-nCov.
On Jan. 11, the first death due to the illness was reported in China. The person who died was a 61-year-old male, predicted to have caught the disease while shopping in the fish market in Wuhan, the heart of the now epidemic.
On Jan. 13, a woman was hospitalized in Thailand due to the virus, marking the first case outside China.
On Jan. 16, a person in Japan traveling from Wuhan tested positive for the coronavirus.
On Jan. 17, the second death was confirmed in Wuhan.
On Jan. 21, the first case of the new coronavirus was reported in the U.S.
- WHO announces global health emergency
The virus spread to many countries through passengers traveling. People diagnosed with the disease in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Nepal were hospitalized.
On Jan. 22, the number of cases was more than 550 in China, with the number of deaths reaching 17.
On Jan. 23, all transportation to Wuhan were halted and quarantines were imposed.
On Jan. 25, transportation to 17 cities in Hubei state was suspended.
On Jan. 30, the WHO declared a “global health emergency” for the coronavirus.
On Feb. 2, a death was reported in the Philippines, the first outside China.
On Feb. 7, Chinese whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who had tried to warn about the new virus outbreak, but the authorities launched a probe into him, died of the disease.
On Feb. 8, a U.S. citizen in Wuhan died.
- More COVID-19 deaths over SARS
On Feb. 9, the death toll from the new coronavirus surged to 811, beating the death toll from the SARS outbreak.
On Feb. 11, the death toll hit 1,000 in China and the number of the infected topped 40,000.
The WHO announced that the new coronavirus is called COVID-19.
On Feb. 12, it was announced that 125 new coronavirus cases were detected in Diamond Princess cruise ship docked on the Yokohama Port, Japan.
On Feb. 14, Egypt confirmed the first coronavirus case of the African continent.
On Feb. 18, Russia denied entry to Chinese citizens.
In the next few days, many countries banned travel to China and other countries which reported coronavirus cases.
- Coronavirus in South Korea, Iran, Italy
On Feb. 19, Iran reported the first coronavirus case and deaths followed.
On Feb. 21, the new coronavirus was seen to be transmitted between humans in Lombardy, Italy. Six cases were reported.
On Feb. 22, in South Korea, 229 new cases were reported in a day. It was said that the spread of the disease in a Catholic Christian church in the southern city of Daegu played an important role in large number of cases.
In the following days, South Korea became the second country after China with the most cases.
On Feb. 25, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi was reported to have infected with the coronavirus. The number of cases reached 95, with the death toll at 15 in the country.
On Feb. 26, the first coronavirus case was reported in Brazil. Returning from holiday in Italy, the patient was the first COVID-19 case in South America.
- Saudi Arabia suspends umrah visits
On Feb. 27, Saudi Arabia banned entry into the country for umrah, or minor pilgrimage, due to COVID-19.
On Feb. 28, WHO General Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the global risk for COVID-19 was raised to “very high” from “high”.
On Feb. 29, the first death was reported in the U.S.
On March 2, Saudi Arabia reported the first coronavirus case.
On March 3, the number of cases was more than 30,000 worldwide, and the death toll reached 3,000.
On March 4, the death toll from COVID-19 reached 107 in Italy. Education in all schools and universities were suspended until March 15 countrywide.
- State of emergency in California
On March 5, a state of emergency was declared in the U.S. state of California after a person died of COVID-19.
The death toll reached 12 in the country.
