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Covid-19: Timeline of a pandemic that disrupted lives across the world
Several biotech firms have now developed their vaccine candidates to provide immunity against Covid-19, and some countries, including the US and Britain, have started their immunisation drive.
The coronavirus disease (Covid-19), which is believed to have originated from a wildlife market in China’s Wuhan, turned into a pandemic within weeks as rapid virus transmission occurred across the world. The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged as a new strain in the large family of coronaviruses (CoV) which was previously not identified in humans. The epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak shifted from China to Italy as the European nation started witnessing a relatively higher mortality rate.
The virus soon spiralled out in all the major European nations, including France and Germany, prompting countries around the world to announce strict lockdowns. The United States has remained the worst-hit nation in terms of the number of Covid-19 cases and related deaths. India is a distant second with over 10 million cases, followed by Brazil, Russia, and France. According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, nearly 79 million Covid-19 cases and more than 1.7 million related deaths have been recorded across the globe so far.
Several biotech firms have now developed their vaccine candidates to provide immunity against Covid-19, and some countries, including the US and Britain, have started their immunisation drive. Vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have shown impressive efficacy rate. However, new variants of Covid-19, with higher transmission rate, have caused concerns for governments around the world.
Also Read | New Covid-19 mutant found in South Africa: What we know so far
Here’s the timeline of the coronavirus pandemic:
2019
December 31 - The World Health Organisation (WHO) picked up a media report about a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause.
2020
January 7 - The virus outbreak was identified as a new coronavirus.
January 11 - China reported its first death due to the new virus and shared its genetic sequence with the WHO.
January 23 - China ordered a lockdown in Wuhan to contain the spread of the virus.
January 30 - India reported its first three cases of coronavirus but didn’t cause an outbreak.
February 11 - The coronavirus disease is named Covid-19 as the UN health agency avoids naming it after group, people, or geographical location.
February 24 - Italy and Iran emerge as the new epicentre of the outbreak.
March 3 - Official start of the Indian outbreak with one case each in Delhi and Hyderabad.
March 11 - WHO declared Covid-19 as a pandemic, urging countries to take immediate and aggressive action.
March 18 - The UN agency launched international randomised trials for Covid-19 treatments, termed it Solidarity Trial.
March 25 - India imposed a nationwide lockdown.
April 2 - Over a million cases reported worldwide with more than 51,000 related deaths.
May 2 - Pfizer-BioNTech started Phase 1/2 trial to test immune response and safety.
May 17 - India extended nationwide lockdown to May 31.
May 19 - India overtook China in total Covid-19 cases as it crossed the sombre milestone of 100,000 cases.
June 1 - Several countries eased coronavirus restrictions.
June 11 - India surpassed Britain as the fourth worst affected country in terms of total Covid-19 cases.
July 3 - The WHO announced that Covid-19 is airborne, advised everyone to wear a facemask.
July 16 - India crossed one million cases.
July 21 - The interim results of AstraZeneca’s Phase 1/2 trials of its vaccine candidate showed promise.
July 27 - Moderna started Phase 3 trials.
August 15 - India reported a total of over 50,000 Covid-19 related deaths.
September 7 - India surpassed Brazil to become the second worst-hit nation in terms of total Covid-19 cases.
September 29 - A total of over a million Covid-19 related deaths recorded.
October 2 - India recorded 100,000 deaths, US President Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19.
November 16 - Moderna announced its Covid-19 vaccine candidate has 94.5% efficacy rate.
November 18 - Pfizer announced 95% efficacy in the final trial results.
November 23 - AstraZeneca announced its vaccine candidate can be around 90% effective.
December 2 - The UK became the first country to formally approve Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
December 8 - Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first person in the world to receive a clinically approved vaccine.
December 14 - The vaccine rollout started across the US after approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
December 18 - India crossed 10 million Covid-19 cases.
December 19 - London entered lockdown due to a new variant of Covid-19.
December 22 - India joined dozens of countries to ban travel from the UK amid concerns over the new virus strain.
