A timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic (Last updated 2020-04-09)
- April 9, 2020 – Total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world 1 506 936, total deaths world wide 89 931, number of deaths in Sweden are now 793. (4)
MARCH 2020 - March 31, 2020 – Total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world 809 608, total deaths world wide 39 545, number of deaths in Sweden are now 180. (4)
- March 26, 2020 – US Senate passes $2 trillion COVID-19 aid package. (3)
- March 26, 2020 – Total confirmed cases in the US reach 82,404 — the highest in the world — surpassing China’s 81,782 and Italy’s 80,589.
- March 26, 2020 – Roughly 1 in 2 Americans go on lockdown as 22 states issue stay-at-home orders.
- March 23, 2020 – New York City confirms 21,000 cases, making it the biggest epicenter of the outbreak in the US.
- March 22, 2020 – About 1 in 3 Americans are under lockdown as 12 states issue stay-at-home orders.
- March 21, 2020 – Unemployment insurance claims rose by over 3M from March 7-21, reaching their highest level yet. (2)
- March 20-21, 2020 – Italy reports the two highest single-day death tolls for any country: 627 on March 20 and 793 on March 21.
- March 11, 2020 [SWE] – Sweden records its first death.
- March 8, 2020 – Italy places all 60 million residents on lockdown.
FEBRUARY 2020
- February 29, 2020 – US reports first death on American soil.
- February 21, 2020 – Italy outbreak begins.
- February 19, 2020 – Iran outbreak begins.
- February 12, 2020 – Coronavirus cases start to spike in South Korea.
- February 11, 2020 [WHO] – WHO announces that the new coronavirus disease will be called “COVID-19.”
- February 9, 2020 – Death toll in China surpasses that of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, with 811 deaths recorded.
- February 7, 2020 – Chinese whistleblower Li Wenliang dies.
- February 2, 2020 – First death outside China is recorded in the Philippines.
JANUARY 2020 - January 31, 2020 – President Trump bans foreign nationals from entering the US if they were in China within the prior two weeks.
- January 31, 2020 [SWE] – First confirmed COVID-19 case in Sweden, a 20-something woman who traveled home from Wuhan.
- January 30, 2020 [WHO] – WHO declares a global public-health emergency.
- January 23, 2020 – Wuhan is placed under quarantine, Hubei province follows within days.
- January 20, 2020 – First US case is reported: a 35-year-old man in Snohomish County, Washington.
- January 13, 2020 – First coronavirus case outside of China is reported in Thailand.
- January 12, 2020 – China shared the genetic sequence of COVID-19. (6)
- January 11, 2020 – China records its first death.
- January 7, 2020 – Chinese authorities identify a new type of coronavirus (called novel coronavirus or nCoV).
- January 1, 2020 – Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market close
- January 1, 2020 [WHO] – Sets up the IMST (Incident Management Support Team) across the three levels of the organization: headquarters, regional headquarters and country level, putting the organization on an emergency footing for dealing with the outbreak. (6)
DECEMBER 2019 - December 31, 2019 – Chinese Health officials inform the WHO about a cluster of 41 patients with a mysterious pneumonia. Most are connected to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
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