Four months since the first case in Wuhan, the coronavirus have now spread to the entire country. The epicenter is shifted from China to Italy and now to the United States of America. The virus alone has taken over 24,000 lives. Had China been cautious and took early measures, could it have been avoided?
Life is at standstill. People are forced to alter their life at put their health and the health of their loved ones as a top priority. Travel restrictions have been placed. Globalization is at halt. Courtesy – the COVID-19 disease that originated in China.
While a range of conspiracy theory floating around the internet, let us look at the timeline of coronavirus in China.
The Corona Timeline
December 1st: The symptom first appeared on the index patient. Five days later, his 53-year-old wife started showing similar symptoms and were hospitalized.
December 25th: Two Chinese professionals working in Wuhan contracted viral pneumonia and were quarantined immediately. Later in the week, the hospitals witnessed an exponential rise in similar cases that had no trace of contact with the Wet Market.
In the same week, Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistleblower doctor alarmed a group of doctors about a SARS-like virus.
December 31st: The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission declared that there is no obvious human to human transmission of the disease. China first contacted the World Health Organisation. The whistleblower doctor was accused of spreading rumors.
January 3rd: Li Wenliang was made to sign a statement at the police station for spreading ‘false information’. On the same day, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission asked the medical professionals to stop testing for new cases and destroyed existing samples. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reiterated its stance on no human to human transmission.
January 6th: The Chinese center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a level 1 travel advisory for Wuhan and asked travelers to not come in contact with any animal or sick person.
January 8th: China claims to have identified the virus and backs its claims of no human to human transmission.
January 11th: The Wuhan Health Commission publishes a report stating that the viral pneumonia cases have a history of contact with the wet market and reinforces its belief about human transmission.
January 12th: Li Wenliand was admitted to the hospital following severe breathing problems and was put in the intensive care unit.
January 13th: First case of coronavirus reported outside China in Thailand. The patient was a Chinese woman who had a travel history to Wuhan who had visited a relatively smaller wet market.
January 14th: The World Health Organisation puts out a statement saying that the preliminary investigation conducted by the Chinese shows no trace of human to human infection.
January 15th: Japan reports the first case of coronavirus. The patient had no history of visiting the wet market of China. Following this, the Wuhan Health Commission said that the possibility of human transmission cannot be ruled out.
January 19th: The Chinese National Health Commission says the virus is still preventable and controllable.
January 21st: The United States reports its first confirmed case of a patient who had returned from China six days earlier.
January 22nd: The World Health Organisation conducts a field visit to China and concludes that human to human transmission is taking place in Wuhan.
Exactly two months later, the virus has shut down economies and people becoming the world’s biggest pandemic in terms of the impact it has had on the economy.
While the Chinese continued to suppress the possibility of human transmission and by the time it was acknowledged, it was too late.
