With a worldwide death toll of more than 200 and an exponential jump to more than 9800 cases, the WHO finally declares a public health emergency, for just the sixth time. January 31 - WHO Issues Global Health Emergency This means up to 18 million people are under strict lockdown. China makes the unprecedented move not only to close off Wuhan and its population of 11 million, but to also place a restricted access protocol on Huanggang, 30 miles to the east, where residents can’t leave without special permission. In just 2 days, 13 more people died and an additional 300 were sickened. However, the WHO is still unsure of the necessity of declaring a public health emergency. January 21 - Chinese Scientist Confirms COVID-19 Human TransmissionĪt this point, the 2019 novel coronavirus has killed 4 and infected more than 200 in China, before Zhong Nanshan, MD, finally confirms it can be transmitted from person to person. The CDC soon after deploys a team to help with the investigation, including potential use of contact tracing. January 21 - CDC Confirms First US Coronavirus CaseĪ Washington state resident becomes the first person in the United States with a confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, having returned from Wuhan on January 15, thanks to overnight polymerase chain reaction testing. These airports are picked because flights between Wuhan and the United States bring most passengers through them. Three additional cases of what is now the 2019 novel coronavirus are reported in Thailand and Japan, causing the CDC to begin screenings at JFK International, San Francisco International, and Los Angeles International airports. January 20 - CDC Says 3 US Airports Will Begin Screening for Coronavirus

There are 59 cases so far, and travel precautions are already at the forefront of experts’ concerns. January 9 - WHO Announces Mysterious Coronavirus-Related Pneumonia in Wuhan, ChinaĪt this point, the World Health Organization (WHO) still has doubts about the roots of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the spate of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan could have stemmed from a new coronavirus. This is an updated look at how the pandemic progressed throughout 2020. While vaccines began to roll out in the last month of the year, distribution challenges became evident and the United States fell short of its goal of providing an initial dose to 20 million people by December 31. The Transportation Security Administration said it screened the most passengers (1.3 million) on the Sunday before Christmas, the most since March 15. Globally, cases rose to 83,832,334 and 1,824,590 deaths.Ĭases in some parts of the country began surging again in the weeks after Thanksgiving the same effect may be seen in January as health officials are gravely concerned about the extent of travel for the Christmas and winter holidays. As the year ended, the United States surpassed 20 million infections from SARS-CoV-2, and more than 346,000 deaths.

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