DUE to its remoteness and sparse population, Antarctica, in the south polar region, was the last continent in the world to confirm cases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thirty-six cases of infected people were reported in December 2020; almost a year after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan, Hubei, China, where the virus was first detected.
It took under five months for the coronavirus, initially thought to be a pneumonia ‘of unknown cause’, to snowball and engulf 192 countries and territories throughout the world – it has literally overwhelmed the world from Pole to Pole!
One year on, most countries around the world, including Zimbabwe, are still ‘locked-down’ waiting anxiously for deliverance from various vaccines.
Early measures announced by governments worldwide include the cancellation of sporting events, concerts, weddings, gatherings, prayers, closures of shops, non-essential businesses, schools, universities and higher education institutions.
Some governments, including the UK, US, some EU countries, China and Iran, allocated funds for vaccine research to combat the virus.
Meanwhile, the numbers of pneumonia cases in China were steadily increasing; reaching 60 by December 20 2019 and 266 by December 31 2019.
On December 24 2019, Wuhan Central Hospital sent a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) sample from an unresolved clinical case to a medical laboratory for testing.
Between December 27/28, the test results showed a new form of coronavirus had emerged.
By December 31 2019, 27 more cases of infection were confirmed.
The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission made its first public announcement and informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) of ‘a pneumonia outbreak of unknown cause’ in Wuhan.
At the start of January 2020, WHO launched an investigation into the outbreak.
The viral pneumonia of ‘unknown cause’ was confirmed to be a new form (novel) of the coronavirus infectious disease, which came to be known as COVID-19 after the year it emerged.
The first reported death outside of China occurred in the Philippines on February 1; and the first reported death outside of Asia was in the US on February 6 2020
Initially, cases of the pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan were linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market where live animals are sold.
However, in May 2020, the director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said animal samples collected from the seafood market had tested negative for the virus, indicating that the market was not the source of the initial outbreak.
January 9 2020 marked the first confirmed death from COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.
Chunyun – the Chinese New Year celebrations, in early-to-mid-January 2020, spread the virus through community transmission, to other Chinese provinces; by January 20, nearly 140 new cases were reported in one day.
On January 20, the first case was reported in the US while on January 31, former US President Donald Trump declared the outbreak a public health emergency and placed restrictions on flights arriving from China.
However, the initial response to the pandemic was slow until a national emergency was declared on March 13.
Since January 2020, over 27 000 000 confirmed cases have been reported in the US, resulting in more than 465 000 deaths, the most of any country and the eighth-highest per capita.
The US reported almost a quarter of the world’s COVID-19 cases and a fifth of all deaths.
More Americans have died from COVID-19 than during the Second World War.
It became the third leading cause of death in the US in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer.
On January 20 2020, COVID-19 was confirmed to have spread to South Korea from China.
Shincheonji devotees visiting the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, in Daegu, from Wuhan, were suspected to have been the source of the outbreak.
By February 22, from over 9 000 followers of the church, 1 261 reported symptoms of the virus.
A high-level alert was declared in South Korea on February 23 2020, with more than 3 150 confirmed cases reported by 29 February.
South Korea introduced the largest and best-organised programme in the world to screen its population for the virus, isolate any infected people and trace and quarantine those who contacted them.
Screening methods included increased testing capacity for up to 20 000 people every day; mandatory self-reporting of symptoms by international arrivals through mobile application and drive-through virus testing with the results available the following day.
By March 23, South Korea reported the lowest one-day case total in four weeks.
Requests for virus testing assistance were received from 121 different countries.
On January 24 2020, the pandemic reached France when the first COVID-19 case in Europe was confirmed in Bordeaux, although it was later discovered that a person near Paris had tested positive for the virus on December 27 2019 after retesting old samples.
A key event in the spread of the COVID-19 disease in France was the annual assembly of the Christian Open-Door Church in Mulhouse, attended by about 2 500 people between February 17-24; half of whom contracted the virus.
On September 14, France reported over 402 000 confirmed cases, 30 000 deaths and 90 000 recoveries.
By November, it became the worst-hit country in Europe, with a total of over 1,8 million confirmed cases and rising.
The pandemic was confirmed to have reached Oceania on January 25 2020.
The first confirmed case was reported in Melbourne, Australia, and the virus soon spread elsewhere in the region, although many small Pacific Island nations avoided the outbreak by closing their international borders.
Compared to other Western nations, Australia and New Zealand were praised for their competent handling of the pandemic. New Zealand eliminated community transmission of the virus several times, even after being re-introduced into the community.
On January 30 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in India.
About half of all reported cases in the country were reported in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.
A nationwide lockdown was ordered for the entire population starting March 24 2020, with a phased unlock beginning June1 2020.
The total number of confirmed cases breached the 100 000 mark on May 19 2020; 1 000 000 on July 16 2020; and 5 000 000 confirmed cases on September 16 2020, setting a new record, with almost 98 000 cases reported that day.
By August 30 2020, India surpassed the US record with the most cases in a single day, with more than 78 000 cases.
By September 2020, India had the largest number of confirmed cases in Asia and the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the world, behind the US,
By January 30 2020, 7 818 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across 19 countries.
On January 31 2020, Italy confirmed its first cases.
They were two tourists from China.
As cases began to rise sharply, the Italian Government suspended all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency.
On March 4 , Italy recorded 100 deaths from the pandemic.
The Italian Government ordered a nationwide closure of all schools and universities while sports were suspended completely on March 9.
On March 11, all commercial activities, except supermarkets and pharmacies, were stopped by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
By March 19, Italy reported 3 405 fatalities, overtaking China as the country with the most coronavirus-related deaths in the world.
By September 14, there were 287 753 confirmed cases, 35 610 deaths and 213 634 recoveries in Italy — the majority occurring in the Lombardy region, northern Italy, where 16 cases of an unassociated cluster of COVID-19 cases were detected on February 21 2020.
On January 31 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Spain when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Islands.
Post-hoc genetic analysis showed that by mid-February, at least 15 strains of the virus had been imported into Spain.
By March 13, cases of the virus were confirmed in all 50 provinces of the country, mostly through community transmission.
On April 2, 950 people died of the virus in a 24-hour period, the highest in any country in a single day.
By March 25, the official death toll in Spain surpassed that of mainland China, and by October 21, Spain exceeded one million COVID-19 cases, with 1 005 295 infections and 34 366 deaths reported, a third of which occurred in the capital, Madrid.
Dr Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher, industrial design consultant. She is a published author in her field.
For views and comments, email: linamanucci@gmail.com