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| How China's new coronavirus spread China's coronavirus spread | How Coronavirus spread in china |
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global health emergency over a new coronavirus - known as COVID-19 - that has killed at least 2 595 people in mainland China, with cases confirmed in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa.
Below is a timeline.
On December 31 last year, 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.
On January 5, Chinese officials 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.
On January 7, officials announced they had identified a new virus, according to the WHO. The novel virus was named 2019-nCoV and was identified as belonging to the coronavirus family, which includes SARS and the common cold.
On January 11, China announced its first death from the virus, a 61-year-old man who had purchased goods from the seafood market. Treatment did not improve his symptoms after he was admitted to hospital and he died of heart failure on the evening of January 9.
On January 13, the WHO reported a case in Thailand, the first outside of China, in a woman who had arrived from Wuhan.On January 16, Japan's health ministry reported a confirmed case in a man who had also visited Wuhan.
On January 17, as a second death was reported in Wuhan, health authorities in the US announced that three airports would start screening passengers arriving from the city.
As of February 10, China had 908 confirmed deaths and a total of 40 171 infections - 97 new deaths were reported following the deadliest day of the outbreak. (Getty Images).
Authorities in the United States, Nepal, France, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan confirmed cases over the following days.
On 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.
Meanwhile, a Chinese expert on infectious diseases confirmed human-to-human transmission to state broadcaster CCTV, raising fears of a major outbreak as millions travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Seismic spread
Asian countries ramped up measures to block the spread of the virus, introducing mandatory screenings at airports of all arrivals from high-risk areas of China.
On January 22, the death toll in China jumped to 17 with more than 550 infections. Many European airports stepped up checks on flights from Wuhan.
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Wuhan was placed under effective quarantine on January 23 as air and rail departures were suspended.
The same measures were announced for two more cities in Hubei province: Xiantao and Chibi.
Beijing cancelled events for the Lunar New Year, starting on January 25, while officials reported the first death outside Hubei.
The WHO said later on January 23 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.
Source: China News (READ MORE)
#Coronavirus #coronaviruswho #coronavirusIndia #coronavirusitaly
Source: China News (READ MORE)
#Coronavirus #coronaviruswho #coronavirusIndia #coronavirusitaly
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