COVID-19: Twelve key milestones in a year like no other

A third-year medical student from the University of St. Andrews, wearing full PPE, completes a fellow student’s lateral-flow COVID-19 test in a mass testing centre set up in the University’s sports hall in St. Andrews, eastern Scotland on November 27, 2020, to determine if the students are able to travel home for the Christmas break. (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP)

PARIS, France – From the first cases in central China to hopes of a vaccine a year later, here are a dozen key developments in the spread and subsequent fight against COVID-19.

– First death –

On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) is alerted to a cluster of pneumonia cases “of unknown cause” in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

On January 7, 2020 a new coronavirus is identified. Four days later China announces its first death in Wuhan from an illness which will be named COVID-19.

– Wuhan cut off –

On January 23 Wuhan is placed under quarantine and cut off from the world. Countries start to repatriate their citizens from China.

Students attend the 100th anniversary of the founding of Wuhan High School on the first day of the new semester in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on September 1, 2020. (Photo by STR / AFP)

On February 15 France reports the first death confirmed outside Asia, a Chinese tourist.

– ‘Pandemic’ –

By March 6 more than 100,000 cases have been recorded around the world.

Northern Italy is locked down, quickly followed by the rest of the country.

On March 11, the WHO says COVID-19 is a pandemic.

Global stock markets crash.

Governments and central banks roll out massive economic support measures.

– Europe in lockdown –

Spain (March 14) and France (March 17) order their populations to stay at home. Germany and Britain say people should avoid all social contact. The 27-nation European Union closes its external borders.

– Olympics postponed –

On March 24, the Tokyo summer Olympics scheduled for July 2020 are put off to the next year.

Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe (AFP via The Straits Times/Asia News Network)

The next day the United Nations warns that the pandemic is “threatening the whole of humanity”.

– Half of world confined –

Lockdown measures are enforced all around the world.

On April 2 more than 3.9 billion people — half of the world’s population — are forced or called on to confine themselves, according to an AFP count. The same day the threshold of one million cases is crossed.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is infected and ends up in intensive care.

– Economy on its knees –

On April 29 the battered US aircraft manufacturer Boeing slashes 16,000 jobs.

Many other groups including airlines and car manufacturers follow.

– Hydroxychloroquine row –

Backed by US President Donald Trump as a potential treatment for COVID-19, malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is judged to have no benefit in a study published in The Lancet on May 22.

(FILES) This file photograph taken on May 20, 2020, shows a bottle and pills of Hydroxychloroquine as they sit on a counter at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah. – The United States on June 15, 2020 withdrew emergency use authorizations for two coronavirus treatments favored by President Donald Trump, citing their lack of efficacy and safety concerns. “It is no longer reasonable to believe that oral formulations of HCQ (hydroxychloroquine) and CQ (chloroquine) may be effective in treating COVID-19,” Denise Hinton, chief scientist of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote in a letter. (Photo by GEORGE FREY / AFP)

The study is retracted due to problems with the data but on June 5 a British research group also concludes that the medicine did not help COVID-19 patients at all.

– Surge in Latin America –

By June 7 the death toll reaches more than 400,000.

The surge of cases and deaths in Latin America causes concern.

Brazil becomes the country with the second biggest death toll after the United States. Its president Jair Bolsonaro calls it a “little flu”, before himself becoming infected. Fellow COVID-19 sceptic Donald Trump will also get it.

– Masks and anti-masks –

With cases on the increase, several European countries make mask wearing compulsory on public transport, in schools and shops and on the street, starting with the Czech Republic on March 18.

Anti-mask demonstrations are organised in Berlin, London, Paris and Rome.

– Second wave –

The grim milestone of a million deaths worldwide is passed on September 28. In October infections start to spiral in Europe, where many countries order new lockdowns and curfews.

The pandemic also picks up pace in the US, where its handling has become a key issue in the presidential campaign.

– Vaccine hopes –

On November 9, US biotech giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech unveil positive results of a vaccine, as the number of official cases passes 50 million.

This illustration picture taken in Paris on November 23, 2020 shows a syringe and a bottle reading “Covid-19 Vaccine” next to AstraZeneca company and University of Oxford logos. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)

A week later a similar announcement comes from US firm Moderna, with an AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine following fast behind. Authorities hope to begin vaccination campaigns at the end of the year in the US and parts of Europe.

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