We take a look at some of the major international events related to COVID-19 which have unfolded since.

With the month of June nearing its end, it has been around half a year since the world has been battling Coronavirus. It was on the last day of the preceding year i.e,. on December 31st, 2019, the Chinese authorities first informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the outbreak of “viral pneumonia” in the capital city of Hubei province, Wuhan. We take a look at some of the major international events related to COVID-19 which have unfolded since.

January 11: Twelve days later on January 11, a 61-year-old man in China became the first officially recorded casualty of Covid-19. At the same time, what was initially termed as “viral pneumonia” by the Chinese authorities was defined as the latest entrant to the family of Coronaviruses.

January 13: What was feared turned true and merely 2 days later after the disease was defined as a new Coronavirus, the first case of Coronavirus was traced outside China in Thailand and the number grew as initial cases of Covid-19 positive patients were traced to countries like Japan, South Korea among others.

January 23: The term “lockdown”, which has now become the part of our lives, was first imposed by the Chinese authorities in Wuhan city in a bid to control the virus spread to other parts of the country. The decision was taken by the Chinese authorities after the death toll increased to 18 in the city.

January 30: World Health Organisation termed the situation arising from the outbreak of the virus as a public health emergency of international concern.

February 1: United States, Singapore, Russia and Australia became the first countries to ban the travel to and from China.

February 7: Chinese doctor Li Wenliang who was muzzled by the authoritarian government in China for flagging the seriousness of the outbreak succumbed to the virus. His death led the world to question the Chinese response in mitigating and controlling the spread of the virus in China in its earlier phase.

February 26: The outbreak which first began from China started taking a heavier toll on other countries for the first time as the number of positive Coronavirus cases in the world surpassed the number of Chinese Covid-19 patients. Italy, Iran became the new epicentre of the virus.

March 3: In order to reduce the impact of Coronaavirus on the U.S economy, the Federal Reserve Bank slashed the interest rates by half a percentage point.

March 10: The curfew-based model of containing the spread of the virus via lockdown was imposed in Italy. Italy’s lockdown was one of the harshest lockdown models implemented the world over to tide over the crisis.

March 13: U.S President who had initially denied the spread of Coronavirus announced the national emergency to inject $50 billion aid as federal aid to cope up with the impact on economy.

March 14: Emulating the model of Italy to contain the number of Coronavirus infections, France and Spain also imposed lockdown forcing people to remain inside their homes, shutting down public places, non essential services etcetera.

March 20: The U.S state of California passes the”stay at home” order in the region. New York state focibly shut the non essential service businesses.

March 19: The number of casualties of Coronavirus in Italy surpassed that of China. By this day, the virus had spread to more than 170 nations in the world.

March 24: In India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed the unprecedented nationwide lockdown in India for 21 days shutting down all means of transport, locking down offices barring essential services among others. On the same day his Japanese counterpart Shinjo Abe announced the postponement of Olympic games which were to be hosted by Japan this year. The chain of cancellation of different sporting and public events followed from across the world.

April 5: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson contracts Coronavirus leading to his subsequent admission into a hospital. He was released from the hospital on April 12.

April 8: Lifting of the strict lockdown from the central city of Wuhan on this day meant that the outbreak had been contained in China and was beginning to take its worst shape in most parts of the world.

June 8: New Zealand became the first country to proclaim itself Coronavirus free. However, a few days later some cases of Coronavirus were traced again to haunt the country. The development signified that the fight against Coronavirus is a long haul one and unless there is a treatment/vaccine of the virus, it can only be controlled and not eradicated.

June 28: Global deaths caused by Coronavirus reached the 5 lakh figure while the number of Coronavirus positive cases tops the 1 crore mark across the world.