The latest numbers from Johns Hopkins University, which has tracked the spread of the coronavirus during the pandemic, now puts the confirmed global total of cases at 1,502,618.
On Tuesday 8th April, we passed 100 days since Covid-19 emerged. There have been over 1.5m confirmed cases, and over 88,000 deaths. Billions of people are confined to their homes and stock markets have plummeted.
As we mark 100 days since the first case of what we now call #COVID19 now was notified to WHO, here is the timeline of key events and efforts taken to stop the #coronavirus from spreading.pic.twitter.com/RkmcmQ8gkj
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 9, 2020
On December 31, 2019, the outbreak of a mystery respiratory illness in the central Chinese city of Wuhan left 27 people with viral pneumonia. There were early comparisons with the Sars outbreak of late 2002, however officials stated the cause was uncertain and urged people not to panic. A month later, WHO declared a “public health emergency of international concern” and on 11 March 2020, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.