A comprehensive timeline of the coronavirus pandemic at 1 year, from China's first case to the present

coronavirus covid 19 patient emergency workers protective equipment suits masks gloves south korea march 9 2020 GettyImages 1211268635
Medical staff wearing protective gear move a patient infected with the coronavirus from an ambulance to a hospital on March 9, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
  • The 1-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic has arrived: The first case was confirmed in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
  • Chinese government data suggests the virus was likely circulating by mid-November.
  • In the year since, the virus has infected more than 78 million people and killed more than 1.7 million.
  • Here is a timeline of the most significant events and milestones of the pandemic.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Advertisement

Find further detail about each of these events below.

 

Advertisement

November 17, 2019: A person displayed the first detectable case of COVID-19 in China.

Delivery by JD.com at Wuhan, Hubei province
A delivery driver passes by a local butcher in Wuhan, China. JD

The 55-year-old from Hubei province was the first known case of COVID-19 in the world (though the virus hadn't received that name yet), and one of hundreds identified by Chinese authorities in 2019, according to an investigation by the South China Morning Post.

However, Chinese medical experts didn't realize they were dealing with a new virus until late December. Many cases were likely backdated after health authorities took samples from suspected cases, according to the investigation.

Advertisement

December 31, 2019: Chinese Health officials informed the World Health Organization about a cluster of 41 patients with a mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan.

wuhan map
The location of Wuhan in China's Hubei province. Ruobing Su/Business Insider

"The cause of the disease is not clear," The People's Daily newspaper, a state-owned publication, said at the time, according to Reuters.

Researchers think the coronavirus originated in bats, then may have jumped to an intermediary species that passed it to people.

 

Advertisement
Advertisement

January 7: Chinese authorities identified the virus that caused the illness as a new type of coronavirus.

coronavirus covid 19 glass virsu structure shape receptors glass model GettyImages 1213231979
A glass model of the novel coronavirus, by artist Luke Jerram on March 18, 2020 in Bristol, United Kingdom. The model is about 1 million times larger than the actual virus. Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

At that time, the researchers called the virus 2019-nCoV. 

Coronaviruses get their name from their appearance under a microscope: They appear to be covered with points that look like a crown (hence, corona). Other viruses in the coronavirus family cause pneumonia, SARS, and some common colds. 

Advertisement

January 11: China recorded its first coronavirus death. Chinese researchers also published the virus' genetic sequence.

wuhan coronavirus temporary hospital patients
Patients infected with the coronavirus rest at a temporary hospital converted from the Wuhan Sports Center in China's Hubei province, February 17, 2020. Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua News Agency via AP

The first person to die was a 61-year-old man who was a frequent customer at the Huanan market.

After researchers published the genetic sequence of the coronavirus, at least two companies quickly got to work creating vaccine candidates: Moderna and BioNTech.

Advertisement

January 13: The first coronavirus case outside China was reported in Thailand.

thailand coronavirus
Thai public-health officers operate a health checkpoint with thermoscan at Suvarnabhumi International airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 18, 2020. AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

A 61-year-old female tourist in Thailand was diagnosed on January 13. She'd recently spent time in Wuhan. Airports in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea began to screen passengers for fever.

Advertisement

January 20: The US reported its first case: a 35-year-old man in Snohomish County, Washington.

The man left Wuhan and landed at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 15. He reported to a clinic with pneumonia symptoms on January 19, then was diagnosed with the coronavirus a day later.

Advertisement

January 23: Chinese authorities placed the 11-million-person city of Wuhan under quarantine, and the rest of the Hubei province followed days later.

Wuhan
A man crosses an empty highway road on February 3, 2020, in Wuhan. Getty Images

The Hubei lockdowns affected an estimated 60 million people, making China's action the largest quarantine in history at the time.

Still, this lockdown came too late to stop the coronavirus from spreading throughout the province and beyond its borders. Wuhan officials had allowed a district in the city to hold a Lunar New Year gathering of 40,000 families on January 18, according to the Financial Times.

Advertisement

January 30: The WHO declared a public-health emergency of international concern.

Wuhan coronavirus
A warehouse of medical materials in Wuhan on February 4, 2020. Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

The WHO's "global public-health emergency" determination has been around since 2005 and had been used five times before.

Those instances were the Ebola outbreak that started in 2013 in West Africa, another Ebola outbreak that's been ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2018, the 2016 Zika epidemic, polio in war zones in 2014, and the swine-flu pandemic in 2009.

January 31: President Donald Trump banned foreign nationals from entering the US if they'd been in China within the prior two weeks.

coronavirus
A passenger receives a temperature check before boarding a flight in Tokyo, Japan, on January 21, 2020. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

Several of President Donald Trump's top advisers — including Anthony Fauci, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and CDC Director Robert Redfield — had urged him to limit travel from China, according to journalist Bob Woodward.

Advertisement

February 2: The first coronavirus death outside of China was recorded in the Philippines.

A police officer checks the body temperature motorists amidst the lockdown of the country's capital, to contain the spread of coronavirus,Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, March 16, 2020. REUTERS:Eloisa Lopez .JPG
A police officer checks the temperature of motorists at a checkpoint in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, on March 16, 2020. Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

The 44-year-old man, a Wuhan resident, had traveled to the Philippines on January 21 with a 38-year-old woman.

Hours before announcing the death, Philippines government officials said they would temporarily ban all non-Filipino travelers from China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Advertisement

February 6: A person in California died from COVID-19, the first known American death.

San Francisco coronavirus
Workers sanitize streets where homeless people are living in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, California, March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Santa Clara County officials found via autopsies that three people who died in their homes on February 6, February 17, and March 6 had the coronavirus.

Before those cases were identified, officials thought that a fatality reported in Washington state on February 29 was the earliest US death from the virus.

Advertisement

February 7: Wuhan doctor and whistleblower Li Wenliang died. At the onset of the outbreak, Li warned contacts from medical school about a new virus but was reprimanded by authorities.

LI WENLIANG
Li Wenliang wears a respirator mask in Wuhan, China, on February 3, 2020. LI WENLIANG/GAN EN FUND via REUTERS

Li was forced to sign a letter saying he made "false comments" after he alerted fellow doctors about the worrisome SARS-like disease. 

Li caught the coronavirus himself and died a little more than a month later. He left behind a son and pregnant wife. After his death, Chinese social media was filled with outpourings of grief and anger. Many posts featured a hashtag saying "We want freedom of speech."

February 11: The WHO announced that the disease caused by the new coronavirus would be called COVID-19.

coronavirus microscope
A microscopic image of an isolate from the first US case of COVID-19. The spherical viral particles are colorized blue. CDC

"We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual, or group of people," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, adding that the WHO wanted a name that was "pronounceable and related to the disease."

Advertisement

February 14: A Chinese tourist who tested positive for the virus died in France, becoming Europe's first death tied to the outbreak.

France coronavirus
The Eiffel Tower is seen next to a board that reads: "In the context of the COVID-19 the Eiffel Tower closes today from 9pm for an indefinite period of time," March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

The victim, an 80-year-old man from Hubei province who'd traveled to France on holiday, was hospitalized and quarantined on January 25. France had confirmed 11 cases of the virus by then, according to the BBC.

Also at the time, more than 1,600 people had died in Hubei.

February 29-March 19: Nearly all US states declared a state of emergency.

arkansas gov. state of emergency
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks at a news conference at the state Capitol on March 12, 2020. AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo

The announcements enabled states to activate emergency response plans and spend money to deploy additional personnel, buy equipment, and prepare stockpiles of supplies.

Advertisement

March 9: Italy placed all 60 million residents under lockdown.

italy coronavirus lockdown
People in Duomo Square after Italy went into lockdown to clamp down on the coronavirus, in Milan, Italy, March 10, 2020. Flavio Lo Scalzo/Reuters

Initially, two regions in the north become hotspots, so Italian officials locked down towns there on February 23. Then on March 9, the government expanded the restriction zone to encompass the entire nation.

Advertisement

March 11: The WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), waits prior the opening of the 146th session of the World Health Organization Executive Board, at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, speaks on February 3, 2020. Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via Associated Press

The WHO made the designation based on the geographic spread of the disease, the severity of illnesses it causes, and its effects on society.

"Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly," Tedros said.

Advertisement

March 11: President Trump banned travel from 26 European countries.

Trump White House Airlines CEOs - LAX, UPS, United
President Trump talks with Deborah Flint, CEO of Los Angeles World Airports; United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz; and Myron Gray, president of US operations for UPS, at the White House on February 9, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The ban went into effect on March 13. The UK and Ireland were later added. The ban did not prevent US citizens and some other groups from entering the country from Europe.

Advertisement

March 13: Trump declared a national emergency.

Trump coronavirus
People watch a Donald Trump speech about the coronavirus pandemic from in a bar in Seattle, Washington, on March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Redmond

The declaration triggered the Stafford Act and allowed for more federal aid to states and municipalities.

Congress also passed a roughly $2 trillion stimulus package.

Advertisement

March 19: China reported no new locally spread infections for the first time since the pandemic began.

wuhan half mast
The Chinese national flag flies at half mast at a ceremony mourning those who died of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, April 4, 2020. China Daily via Reuters

The nation has since kept its case numbers under control, with fewer than 20,000 new cases since May among a population of nearly 1.4 billion people. 

China's strict lockdowns helped it contained COVID-19 so quickly. A March study found that the Wuhan lockdown on January 23 prevented tens of thousands of infections throughout the Hubei province. Without the lockdown, cases in Hubei would have been 65% higher, the study calculated. 

March 21: Italy saw the peak of its first wave, with 6,557 new cases of COVID-19 in a day.

Italy coronavirus
Military officers wearing face masks stand outside Duomo cathedral in Milan, Italy, which was closed by authorities due to the coronavirus outbreak, on February 24, 2020. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo

The country's coronavirus caseload had skyrocketed by the end of February. As of late December, more than 2 million people have gotten the coronavirus in Italy.

Advertisement

March 23: New York City became the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

coronavirus new york
A Department of Health employee trains New York Army National Guard soldiers at a drive-through coronavirus testing center in New Rochelle, New York, on March 14, 2020. Sgt. Amouris Coss/U.S. Army National Guard/Handout/Reuters

New York state has recorded more than 887,000 cases in total, though many early cases in the spring weren't counted due to limited testing. More than 36,000 people there have died. 

March 26: The US became the world leader in confirmed cases with more than 82,400, surpassing China's total of 81,780 at the time.

At the time, President Trump claimed the high numbers in the US were due to high levels of testing, even though the country lagged behind other nations in tests per capita, including South Korea and Italy

Advertisement

March 30: Iran recorded 3,186 new daily cases, the peak of its first wave.

iran coronavirus
Firefighters disinfect a street in western Tehran, Iran, on March 13, 2020. Associated Press/Vahid Salemi

Iran's schools and universities closed February 23, as did movie theaters and cultural centers. Government officials also released 54,000 prisoners to prevent outbreaks in its prisons. Still, the country became an early epicenter of the pandemic.

 

 

March 31: More than one-third of humanity was under some form of lockdown.

russian emergency field hospital construction cranes moscow GettyImages 1208461616
The construction site of a new hospital for patients with coronavirus in Moscow, Russia. Mikhail Japaridze\TASS via Getty Images

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi told India's 1.3 billion residents to stay home on March 24, 2.6 billion people across the world were under lockdown. That's more people than were alive on the planet during World War II.

Advertisement

April 2: The world passed 1 million COVID-19 cases.

The US had the most infections at the time, with more than 234,000 cases, or about one-quarter of the world's total. Italy had about 115,000 cases, and Spain had reported 110,000. More than 51,000 people had died worldwide.

April 7: Roughly 95% of all Americans were under some form of lockdown as a result of state, county, or city orders.

EMBARGO HOLD FOR RELEASE FOR PUBLICATION ON WEDNESDAY, MAR. 13, AND THEREAFTER - FILE - In this Monday Feb. 11, 2019 file photo Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom answers questions at a Capitol news conference, in Sacramento, Calif. Newsom is expected to sign a moratorium on the death penalty in California Wednesday, March 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the US's first statewide stay-at-home order on March 19. Other states followed suit. Associated Press

Governors in 42 states issued stay-at-home orders by the end of March, affecting a total of 308 million people, or about 95% of the US population.

Advertisement

April 10: The global death toll surpassed 100,000.

ukraine coronavirus burial
A burial site for people who died from COVID-19 in Ukraine. Stanislav Vedmid/AFP/Getty Images

The world reached this milestone 101 days after Chinese health authorities first alerted the World Health Organization about the coronavirus. At the time, the US had the second-highest death toll of any country, with 17,925 deaths. Italy was highest, with 18,849 deaths.

April 14: President Trump ordered a halt on $400 million in US funding for the World Health Organization.

FILE- In this March 14, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump talks after speaking during a news conference about the coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington. Trump’s name will be printed on the stimulus checks that the Internal Revenue Service will be sending to tens of millions of Americans around the country. It's an unprecedented move finalized this week. That's according to two officials with knowledge of the decision, who spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Trump speaks during a news conference about the coronavirus at the White House in Washington DC, March 14, 2020. Alex Brandon/AP

In a prepared statement on April 14, Trump blamed the WHO for "severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus."

Advertisement

April 24: Coronavirus cases began to spike in Brazil.

Brazil river community houses.JPG
Dr. Jorge Hernandez stands near Maria Angela who has tested positive for COVID-19, as healthcare workers carry her to an ambulance boat on a stretcher, on Marajo island, Para state, Brazil, June 13, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Brazil currently has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases: more than 6.9 million. More than 181,000 people have died there, the second-highest death toll after the US.

Like President Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has endorsed unproven COVID-19 remedies like hydroxychloroquine and downplayed the pandemic's overall threat.

May 11: Many countries, including Spain, Iran, Italy, New Zealand, and Thailand, began to ease lockdown restrictions.

Italy coronavirus lockdown restaurants
A waiter stands by empty tables outside a restaurant at St Mark's Square after the Italian government imposed a lockdown. Manuel Silvestri/Reuters

New Zealand, in particular, has successfully managed its COVID-19 outbreak. Since an initial spike in April, the country has not reported more than 25 new cases in a single day. Overall, it has only reported 2,128 cases and 25 deaths.

Advertisement

May 16: Coronavirus cases begin to surge in India.

india coronavirus
A health worker checks visitors' body temperatures at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, on March 18, 2020. Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images

India has reported more than 10.1 million coronavirus cases. More than 146,000 people there have died of COVID-19.

May 21: The number of global COVID-19 cases surpassed 5 million.

coronavirus memorial death sun
The sun sets behind a makeshift memorial for grocer Steve Shulman, who died from COVID-19, at Leschi Market in Seattle, Washington, March 19, 2020. Brian Snyder/Reuters

The number had passed 4 million on May 9, just 11 days earlier. At the time, nearly a third of the 5 million cases — 1,551,853 — had been reported in the US. More than 93,000 people in the US had died from the virus at the time. 

Advertisement

June 28: Global cases surpassed 10 million, and global deaths surpassed 500,000.

fauci coronavirus you can get someone sick who will die
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, removes his face mask before testifying at a Senate hearing, June 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images

About half of those infections were still active and ongoing, while the other half of people had recovered.

Advertisement

July 7: Bolsonaro announced he'd tested positive for COVID-19.

Jair Bolsonaro
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro adjusts his face mask at a press statement during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brasilia, Brazil, March 20, 2020. Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

After he announced his diagnosis, Bolsonaro claimed he was getting treated with hydroxychloroquine.

 

Advertisement

September 2: The WHO issued a strong recommendation for the use of steroids among seriously ill COVID-19 patients.

FILE PHOTO: A pharmacist displays a box of Dexamethasone at the Erasme Hospital amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Brussels, Belgium, June 16, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
A pharmacist displays a bottle of dexamethasone at the Erasme Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, June 16, 2020. Yves Herman/Reuters

The organization based its recommendation on the results of seven clinical trials, which found that critically ill COVID-19 patients given steroids were significantly less likely to die.

"Clearly, now steroids are the standard of care," Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, told The New York Times.

Advertisement

September 22: US deaths from COVID-19 topped 200,000.

coronavirus deaths texas
Family gather at the funeral of Fernando Aquirre, 69, who died of COVID-19. Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

In March, disease modelers predicted that COVID-19 would kill as many as 195,000 people in the US by the end of the year. The country reached that number three months earlier than expected. 

The disease has killed more Americans than every war US troops have died in since 1945 combined. The US's current death toll stands at more than 327,000.

 

 

Advertisement

September 28: Global deaths surpassed 1 million.

india coronavirus
Hospital staff members carry candles and oil lamps to show solidarity with people affected by the coronavirus, in Kolkata, India, April 5, 2020. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

Combined, the US, Brazil, and India combined accounted for nearly half of that total.

The 1 million figure was almost certainly an undercount, given the lack of widespread testing in many nations, as well as suspected concealment of cases and deaths in some countries like Russia and Brazil.

Advertisement

October 2: President Trump announced he'd tested positive for COVID-19.

Trump rally
President Trump holds a campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on September 8, 2020. Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The president's diagnosis came about a week after he and more than 150 others gathered in the White House Rose Garden to celebrate the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. 

After Trump, at least 34 White House staff members, GOP officials, journalists, and other people in the president's orbit tested positive for COVID-19.

 

Advertisement

October 23: The US entered its third surge of coronavirus cases, the beginning of its deadliest phase yet.

coronavirus hospital complication heart
Houston Fire Department medics transport a man to a hospital after he suffered cardiac arrest on August 11, 2020 in Houston, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images

Daily cases rose more than 40% from the beginning to end of October. Since then, new cases have continued to trend upward. Patients with COVID-19 have overwhelmed intensive-care units in cities like El Paso, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

On each of six days in December, more than 3,000 people in the US died, eclipsing the daily high of the first wave: 2,752 deaths on May 7.

November 9: Global cases topped 50 million.

covid proning
Medical personnel prone a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, on November 19, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo

By that time, the virus had killed more than 1.25 million people.

Advertisement

December 2: The UK authorized Pfizer and BioNtech's vaccine.

matt downing britain health secretary
Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock gives a thumbs up as he arrives at Downing Street in London after giving details on vaccine distribution efforts, Wednesday, December 2, 2020. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

"This is a day to remember, frankly, in a year to forget," British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, according to the Associated Press.

Two other companies, Moderna and Astrazeneca, had by this point also announced promising trial results. But Astrazeneca's came under scrutiny, since it turned out that researchers had given some participants a half-dose for their first shot by mistake. Among the group that got a half-dose followed by a full dose, the vaccine was found to be 90% effective. Among the rest of the trial participants, who got two full doses, the vaccine showed 60% effectiveness.  AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told Bloomberg that the company would likely launch a new global trial of the vaccine because of the skewed data. 

Advertisement

December 11: The FDA authorized Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Ugur Sahin Özlem Türeci biontech
Dr. Ugur Sahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci, co-founders of BioNTech. Stefan F. So¤mmer via www.imago-images.de/Reuters

The decision followed an endorsement from an independent panel after Pfizer and BioNTech announced its vaccine was 95% effective in a major trial.

The FDA had said it would approve a vaccine that showed at least 50% efficacy, and Fauci had said he hoped for 70%. The vaccine's development process was also unprecedentedly fast — previously, the fastest vaccine ever developed took more than four years.

 

Advertisement

December 18: The FDA authorized Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.

moderna covid vaccine record time 4x3
Moderna; Samantha Lee/Business Insider

The vaccine was more than 94% effective in the Phase 3 trial. 

 

Health coronavirus COVID-19
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.