History of Covid-19 Pandemic: 2020 Coronavirus outbreak

Of the first 41 confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV infection, two-thirds were found to have a link with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which also sold live animals. The earliest reported symptoms occurred on 1 December 2019, in a person who did not have any exposure to the market or to the remaining 40 affected people. As the number of cases has increased, the significance of the market lessened.

Since 31 December 2019, some regions and countries near China tightened their screening of selected travelers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States later issued a Level 1 travel watch. Guidances and risk assessments were shortly posted by others including the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and Public Health England. In China, airports, railway stations and coach stations installed infrared thermometers. Travelers with a measured fever are taken to medical institutions after being registered and given masks. A real-time reverse transcription-polymerase Chain Reaction (RRT-PCR) test was used to confirm new cases of coronavirus infection.

The first reported death due to 2019-nCoV infection was a 61-year-old man on 9 January 2020 who was first admitted to a Wuhan hospital on 27 December 2019.

On 17 January, a research group from the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom published a report that there had been 1,723 cases (95% confidence interval, 427–4,471) with the onset of symptoms by 12 January. This was based on the pattern of the initial spread to Thailand and Japan. They also concluded that "self-sustaining human-to-human transmission should not be ruled out", which has since been confirmed. As further cases came to light, they later recalculated that there may be 4,000 symptomatic cases of 2019-nCoV in Wuhan City by 18 January (uncertainty range of 1,000 to 9,700). A Hong Kong University group has reached a similar conclusion as the earlier study, with additional detail on transport within China.

The virus spread to other Chinese provinces in early and mid-January 2020, helped by the Chinese new year migration. On 20 January, China reported a sharp rise in cases with nearly 140 new patients, including two people in Beijing and one in Shenzhen.

As of 20 January 2020, 282 confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV have been reported from four countries including China (278 cases), Thailand (2 cases), Japan (1 case) and the Republic of Korea (1 case)

In Asia, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam have also responded with border tightening/closures with mainland China. On 22 January 2020, North Korea closed its borders to international tourists to prevent the spread of the virus into the country. Chinese visitors make up the bulk of foreign tourists to North Korea.

On 23 January 2020, a quarantine on travel in and out of Wuhan was imposed in an effort to stop the spread of the virus out of Wuhan. Flights, trains, public buses, the metro system, and long-distance coaches were suspended indefinitely. Large-scale gatherings and group tours were also suspended.

On 23 January 2020, the number of reported confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV has increased by 267 cases since the last situation report published on 22 January 2020. As of 23 January, China reported cases in 25 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). Twenty-five percent of confirmed cases reported by China have been classified by Chinese health authorities as seriously ill (from Wubei Province: (16% severely ill, 5% critically ill, and 4% having died).

On 24 January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called an emergency COBRA meeting to discuss the outbreak and country preparedness.

A specialty hospital named Huoshenshan Hospital has been constructed as a countermeasure against the outbreak and to better quarantine the patients. Wuhan City government had demanded that a state-owned enterprise construct such a hospital "at the fastest speed" comparable to that of the SARS outbreak in 2003. On 24 January, Wuhan authorities specified its planning, saying they planned to have Huoshenshan Hospital built within six days of the announcement and it will be ready to use on 3 February. Upon opening, the specialty hospital has 1,000 beds and takes up 30,000 square meters. The hospital is modeled after the Xiaotangshan Hospital, which was fabricated for the SARS outbreak of 2003, itself built in only seven days. State media reported that there were 7,000 workers and nearly 300 units of construction machinery on the site at peak.

By 24 January 2020, a total of 15 cities in the Hubei, including Wuhan, were placed under similar quarantine measures.

Additional provinces and cities outside of Hubei imposed travel restrictions. Beijing suspended all Intercity bus services on 25 January, with several others following suit. Shanghai, Tianjin, Shandong, Xi'an, and Sanya all announced suspension of intercity or inter-province bus services on 26 January.

A total of 1,320 confirmed cases have been reported for novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) globally by the WHO on the 25th of January, and a total of 41 deaths confirmed

On 26 January, the city of Shantou in Guangdong declared a partial lockdown, though this was reversed two hours later. This created chaos, as residents rushed to supermarkets to stock food as soon as the lockdown was declared until the authorities reversed their decision. Caixin said, that the wording of Shantou's initial declaration was "unprecedentedly strict" and will severely affect residents' lives if implemented as-is. Shantou's Department for Outbreak Control later clarified, that they will not restrict traveling, and all they would do, is to sterilize vehicles used for transportation. A total of 2,014 confirmed 2019-nCoV cases have been reported globally reported by the WHO.

On 27 and 28 January 2020, Xiangyang respectively closed its railway stations and suspended all ferry operations, after shutting down its airport and intercity bus services earlier. Thus, the entire Hubei province entered a city-by-city quarantine, save for the Shennongjia Forestry District. WHO reported on that day that the confirmed casa has increased by 784 cases since the last report and the death count has increased by 24 cases

On 27 January 2020, the United States CDC issued updated travel guidance for China, recommending that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to all of the country. The CDC has directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to check individuals for symptoms of the coronavirus.

On the 29th of Jan, the WHO confirmed that the number of infected cases has dramatically increased to reach 6065 cases globally over 98% of them are in China and the rest are spread over 15 countries, and 132 death case.

Citing 7736 cases essentially in China and 82 cases abroad across 18 countries as of 30 January, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January.

While the spread between people has been confirmed, no active centres of propagation have been confirmed outside China as of 30 January.

On 30 January 2020, following confirmation of human-to-human transmission outside of China and the increase in number of cases in other countries, the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the sixth PHEIC since the measure was first invoked during the 2009 Swine flu pandemic. Tedros clarified that the PHEIC, in this case, was "not a vote of no confidence in China", but because of the risk of global spread, especially to low- and middle-income countries without robust health systems.

Outside Mainland China, some cruise ships were quarantined after passengers developed symptoms or tested positive for 2019-nCoV. The Costa Smeralda was quarantined on 30 January off Civitavecchia in Italy, after passengers developed flu-like symptoms – the quarantine was lifted when tests for the virus came back negative. Two further ships were quarantined on 5 February: Diamond Princess in the Port of Yokohama, Japan and World Dream, which returned to Hong Kong after being refused entry to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In both cases, passengers and crew tested positive and the ships remained quarantined as of 6 February.

On 31 January 2020, Italy closed all passenger air traffic between Italy and China and Taiwan. The Italian Civil Aviation Authority NOTAM says that effective 31 January, all passenger flights from China, including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwan are suspended until further notice, on request of the Italian health authorities. Aircraft that were flying to Italy when the NOTAM was published, was cleared to land. On the same day, the WHO declared that the number of infected cases is 9826 and 213 confirmed death case

On 31 January 2020, an article in The Lancet estimated that 75,815 individuals (95% CrI 37,304–130,330) have been infected in Wuhan as of 25 January, with an estimated doubling time of 6.4 days in the period of study.

On 1 February Huanggang, Hubei implemented a measure whereby only one person from each household is permitted to go outside for provisions once every two days, except for medical reasons or to work at shops or pharmacies. Many cities, districts, and counties across mainland China implemented similar measures in the days following, including Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Harbin, and the whole of Jiangxi Province.

The first death outside of China occurred in the Philippines when a 44-year-old Chinese male citizen with coronavirus developed severe pneumonia and died on 1 February.

On 2 February 2020, the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province also implemented a partial lockdown, closing 46 of the 54 highway checkpoints.

On 2 February, the WHO declared there was a "massive infodemic" accompanying the outbreak and response, citing an over-abundance of reported information, accurate and false, about the virus that "makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it." The WHO stated that the high demand for timely and trustworthy information has incentivized the creation of a direct WHO 24/7 myth-busting hotline where its communication and social media teams have been monitoring and responding to misinformation through its website and social media pages.

On 4 February 2020, two more cities in Zhejiang province restricted the movement of residents. The city of Taizhou, three Hangzhou districts, and some in Ningbo began to only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said. More than 12 million people are affected by the new restrictions.

On 4 February 2020, all casinos in Macau were ordered to shut down for 15 days. Therefore, casinos are to reopen on February 19th.

On 7 February 2020, Singapore's Ministry of Health announced 3 new cases where none are linked to the existing cases or have been in China recently.

On 8 February 2020, it was announced that a Japanese and an American died due to the virus in Wuhan. They are the first foreigners killed by the virus. By that day the WHO announced the confirmed cases is now 34 886 cases and the number of deaths is 724.

As of 9 February, 37,596 cases have been confirmed worldwide, over 99% in China proper.

The data as reported by 11 February 2020 by the WHO was that the death count has passed the one thousand mark and the infection count is at 43 103 confirmed cases.

On 12 February, the Hubei government adopted a broader definition of confirmed cases, which now includes clinically diagnosed patients diagnosed by their symptoms and CT scans but without a nucleic acid test, which can take days to process and delay treatment. "Using CT scans that reveal lung infection would help patients receive treatment as soon as possible and improve their chances of recovery," the provincial health commission said. This new methodology accounts for the sharp increase in Hubei's daily confirmed cases: 13,332 of the 14,840 newly confirmed cases in the province on 12 February were diagnosed clinically under the new definition.

On the 14th of February, the WHO declared that the confirmed cases count has surpassed 50000 and reached 64437. And that the number of deaths is 1383.

The Lombardy outbreak came to light when a 38-year-old Italian tested positive in Codogno, a comune in the province of Lodi. According to his wife, he had met an Italian friend who had returned from China on 21 January, who subsequently tested negative. On 14 February, he felt unwell and went to a doctor in Castiglione d'Adda. He was prescribed treatments for influenza.

Egypt reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on the 15th of February. This is the second country in the WHO EMRO region to confirm a case and the first reported case from the African continent. WHO was informed by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population.

On 16 February, as the 38-year-old man's condition worsened, he went to Codogno Hospital, reporting respiratory problems. Initially, there was no suspicion of COVID-19, so no additional precautionary measures were taken, and the virus was able to infect other patients and health workers. Later, the patient, his pregnant wife, and a friend tested positive. Three more cases were confirmed on the same day after the patients reported symptoms of pneumonia. Thereafter, extensive screenings and checks were performed on everyone that had possibly been in contact or near the infected subjects.

On 22 February, the WHO announced in its report that the number of confirmed cases was 77,794 and the number of deaths was 2359

On 25 February, the WHO declared that "the world should do more to prepare for a possible coronavirus pandemic," stating that while it was still too early to call it a pandemic, countries should nonetheless be "in a phase of preparedness." In response to a developing case of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, the WHO has sent a Joint Mission Team there on the same day to assess the situation in the country.

On 25 February, an 84-year-old man from Nembro, a 91-year-old man from San Fiorano and an 83-year-old woman from Codogno died due to complications from the infections.

The Ministry of Health announced new guidelines for reporting cases on 27 February in response to the previous blanket testing that caused case numbers to surge and inflamed public panic. It would no longer report asymptomatic cases (swabs taken from patients which tested positive but were not showing symptoms) which counted as 40 to 50% of all reported cases at the time. These people would undergo isolation at home and would be followed up with new tests until they were negative.

On 28 February, WHO officials said that the coronavirus threat assessment at the global level will be raised from "high" to "very high," its highest level of alert and risk assessment. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergency program, warned in a statement that "This is a reality check for every government on the planet: Wake up. Get ready. This virus may be on its way and you need to be ready. You have a duty to your citizens, you have a duty to the world to be ready," urging that the right response measures could help the world avoid “the worst of it." Ryan further stated that the current data does not warrant public health officials to declare a global pandemic, saying that the declaration would mean "we’re essentially accepting that every human on the planet will be exposed to that virus."

On 1 March 2020, Nikol Pashinian, Prime Minister of Armenia announced a positive case of corona in his country. He said the subject, a 29-year-old Armenian citizen, had arrived a few days ago from Tehran.

On March 1, 2020, the WHO announced that the Covid-19 virus infections have reached 87,137 (79,968 in China) and the death count was 2,977 (2,873 in China)

On 4 March, Emilia-Romagna's regional minister of health, Raffaele Donini, and minister for territories, Barbara Lori, were declared positive to COVID-19 test

On 8 March, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended the quarantine lockdown, to cover all the region of Lombardy and 14 other northern provinces.

On 9, March 2020 the Situation Report – 49, the WHO announced that the infections passed the 100 thousand mark and reached 109,577 and that the number of deaths was 3,809

On 9 March, President Rodrigo R. Duterte suspended classes in all levels in Metro Manila from 10 to 15 March.

On 9 March, Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian Olympic Committee, announced that all sports events in Italy would be canceled until at least April 3. The ban does not cover Italian clubs or international games.

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic.

On 11 March, President Donald Trump announced the suspension of most travel from Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) for 30 days, beginning on 13 March. He also said that health insurance companies agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments and extend insurance coverage to cover coronavirus treatments. The Department of Homeland Security clarified that the travel suspension only applied to the Schengen Area; it does not apply to European countries that are not members of the Schengen Agreement, such as the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Albania, or Belarus. Furthermore, the travel ban does not apply to US citizens or permanent residents, or their family members or those traveling on certain types of visas.

On 12, March 2020, Tom Hanks announced that both he and his wife have tested positive on his Instagram account. It's reported that they got infected while filming a movie in Australia

On 11 March, it was announced that Juventus and national team footballer Daniele Rugani has tested positive to COVID-19.

On 13 March, U.S. President Trump declared a national emergency due to the virus outbreak. The action made federal funds available to respond to the crisis. Per media reports on 15 March, many businesses closed or reduced hours throughout the U.S. as a method to try to combat the virus.

On 13 March, the WHO declared Europe to be the new center of the pandemic after the rate of new cases in Europe surpassed those recorded in other regions of the world apart from China.

On 15 March it was reported that 15 coronavirus clusters had been identified in Japan, with the largest cluster in the Osaka area.

On 14 March, President Trump expanded the travel ban on Europe to include the United Kingdom and Ireland. In addition, a representative of the insurance industry clarified that, contrary to the president's statement, major health insurers had only agreed to waive co-payments for coronavirus testing, and not for coronavirus treatment, which is far more costly.

On 15 March, the Iranian government reported 100 deaths in a single day, up to that point, the most ever recorded in such a time period.

By 16 March 2020, the total number of cases reported around the world outside China had exceeded that of Mainland China.

On 17 March 2020, around 70 church devotees were infected with the virus after attending the River of Grace Community Church and having salt-water sprayed into their mouths, under the belief that this would protect them from the virus.

As of 18 March 2020, the epidemic was reported to be present in all states, plus the District of Columbia. The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. rose to 9,486, with 157 deaths.

As of March 18, Wuhan, along with the rest of China has not had any new cases, raising questions of the potential consequences when social distancing requirements start to be lifted. Estimates are that less than 1% in China have had the disease, leaving more than 99% vulnerable to future waves of infection. With SARS in 2003, there was no transmission to others during incubation and the early symptoms. With COVID-19, there is evidence of early transmission. Ben Cowling, professor of epidemiology at Hong Kong University, said, “This coronavirus is more comparable to influenza.” It is not known how and if Covid-19 may resurface, though some fear it could follow a similar path to the 1918-1919 flu pandemic in which the second and third waves were more deadly than the first.

On 18, March, the WHO declared on its situation report 58 that the number of infections has reached 191,127 and that the death count was 7807.

On 19 March, Italy overtook China as the country with the most coronavirus-related deaths in the world after reporting 3,405 fatalities from the pandemic.

On 20 March, the government announced that all leisure establishments (pubs, gyms, etc.) were to close as soon as possible, and promised to pay up to 80% of workers' wages, to a limit of £2,500 per month, to prevent unemployment in the crisis.

On 21 March, it was reported that at least 2,355 people were hospitalized in intensive care (942 in the Community of Madrid) and more than 350,000 tests for COVID-19 had been conducted.

On 22 March, it was reported that Russia had sent nine military planes with medical equipment to Italy.

The South Korean society was initially polarized with President Moon Jae-in's response to the crisis. Many Koreans signed petitions either calling for the impeachment of Moon over what they claimed is the government's mishandling of the outbreak or praising his response. On 23 March, it was reported that South Korea had the lowest one-day case total in four weeks. South Korea's approach to the outbreak includes having 20,000 people tested every day for coronavirus.

Per media reports on 23 March Iran has 50 new cases every hour and one new death every ten minutes due to coronavirus. Even so, some sources like Radio Farda, which is US-backed, says Iran may be underreporting.

On 23 March, the Prime Minister announced tougher social distancing measures, banning gatherings of more than two people and restricting travel and outdoor activity to that deemed strictly necessary. Unlike previous measures, these restrictions were enforceable by police through the issuing of fines and the dispersal of gatherings. Most businesses were ordered to close, with "essential" exceptions including supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, hardware shops, petrol stations, and garages.

On 23 March, it was reported that New York City had 10,700 cases of the coronavirus, an amount that is greater than the country of South Korea.

On 24 March 2020, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reported that the spread of domestically transmitted cases has been basically blocked and the outbreak has been controlled in China. The same day travel restrictions were eased in Hubei, apart from Wuhan, two months after the lockdown was imposed.

On 25 March, it was reported that 738 people had died in a single day.

On 25, March, Prince Charles tested positive for the virus.

As of 26 March 2020, there have been 29,155 confirmed cases, 1,696 deaths and at least 3,900 recoveries in France.

As of 26 March 2020, there were 80,589 confirmed cases, 8,215 deaths and 10,361 recoveries in Italy, with the majority of those cases occurring in the Lombardy region.

As of 26 March 2020, the epidemic was present in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. The number of confirmed cases in the US rose to 85,377 with 1,295 deaths.

On the 66 situation report by the WHO it was announced that the number of infections reached 462,684 and that the death count reached 20,834 worldwide.

On the 27th of March, English prime minister Boris Johnson announced that he tested positive for the virus after suffering the symptoms through the previous 24 hours.

On 29 March, the number of confirmed deaths passed 1,000 individuals, and the Prime Minister indicated that stricter lockdown measures could be put in place.

On 2 April per report, 950 people died in a 24-hour period. This was, at the time, the most by any country during the pandemic in a single day.

On 2 April, the World Bank launched emergency support operations for developing countries.

On April 3rd, Spain surpassed Italy in total cases due to the virus and is now second only to the U.S. which has over a quarter of a million cases

On 3 April, the Chinese government declared 4 April, the Qingming Festival of 2020, a national day of mourning for those who lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic. At 10 a.m., people were asked to observe three minutes of silence while sirens and vehicle horns blasted out. Chinese flags were flown at half-mast across the country and at embassies overseas. All public entertainment was halted for the day.

As of 4 April, there were 119,827 confirmed cases, 14,681 deaths, and 19,758 recoveries in Italy, with the majority of those cases occurring in the Lombardy region. A CNN report indicated that the combination of Italy's large elderly population and the inability to test all who have the virus to date may be contributing to the high fatality rate.

On the 4th of April, The Who confirmed that the number of cases has passed a million cases around the world with 1,051,635 cases and 56,985 deaths around 208 countries all over the world.

As of 4 April, 277,475 cases have been confirmed in the United States, and 7,402 people have died.

On 11 April 2020, the U.S. became the country with the highest official death toll for COVID-19, with over 20,000 deaths.

On the 12th of April of 2020, In the 83rd situation report by the WHO, it was declared that the number of cases has reached 1,696,588 and that the death tally has surpassed the 100,000 cases with 105,952 deaths.

On 14 April, President Trump halted funding to the World Health Organization, stating they had mismanaged the current pandemic.

On the 88th situational report of the WHO in April 17, 2020, the number of cases passed the 2 million mark with 2,074,529 cases and a death toll of 139,378.

On 20 April it was reported that Iran had reopened shopping malls and other shopping areas across the country, though there is a fear of a second wave of infection due to this move.

As of 23 April, France has reported more than 120,804 confirmed cases, 21,856 deaths, and 42,088 recoveries, ranking fourth in the number of confirmed cases.

On 24 April it was reported that one of the more promising vaccine trials had begun in England; the government has pledged, in total, more than 50 million pounds towards research.

On 25 April the last patients were discharged in Wuhan.

On 27 April it was reported that 700 people had died from ingesting methanol, falsely believed to be a cure.

As of 30 April 2020, cases have been reported in all Asian countries except for Turkmenistan and North Korea, although some suspect these countries also have cases.

On the 101 situation report of the WHO and the last one of April 2020, the WHO declared that the number of cases has reached 3,090,445 cases and the total death count was 217,769.

On April 30, 2020, the United States reached 1 million infections, just over a quarter of the total infections in the world.

As of 2 May, cases have been confirmed in all African countries except for Lesotho.

Canada reported 60,616 cases and 3,842 deaths on 4 May, while Mexico reported 23,471 cases and 2,154 deaths. The Dominican Republic and Cuba are the only Caribbean countries reporting more than 1,000 cases (7,954 and 1,649, respectively), while Panama and Honduras lead Central America with 7,197 and 1,055 cases, respectively.

On the 7th of May in 2020, the WHO declared in its 108th situational report that the number of cases was 3,672,238 and that the number of deaths has passed a quarter million with 254,045 deaths.

As of 8 May 2020, there have been 222,857 confirmed cases and 26,299 deaths while there have been 131,148 recoveries. The actual number of cases, however, is likely to be much higher, as many people with only mild or no symptoms are unlikely to have been tested. The number of deaths is also believed to be an underestimate due to lack of testing and reporting, perhaps by as much as 10,000 according to excess mortality analysis.

As of 9 May, there were 217,185 confirmed cases, 30,201 deaths, and 99,023 recoveries in Italy, with the majority of those cases occurring in the Lombardy region.

On 11 May 2020, the WHO declared that the number of infections has reached 4,006,257 cases and that the number of deaths was 278,892.

On 13 May the city of Jilin was put on lockdown, sparking fear of a second wave of infection.

Cases have been confirmed in all African countries, with Lesotho the last country to report its first coronavirus case on 13 May 2020.

On 16 May 2020, the WHO announced that the number of deaths has surpassed the 300K mark with a total of 302,059 and 4,425,485 infections.

On 19 May, it was reported that the country had in the week of 12–19 May the highest per capita deaths in Europe, 6.25 deaths per million per day.

On 20 May 2020, the Russian Federation has surpassed 300K in infections.

On the 22nd of May in 2020, the United Kingdom infections have reached the 250 thousand mark according to the WHO.

On 23 May 2020, the WHO announced that the infection number has reached 5 million with 5,103,006 cases and the death tally was 333,401.

As of 24 May, 68 days since its first recorded case, Montenegro became the first COVID-19-free country in Europe.

The George Floyd protests begin in Minneapolis. Largely via social media, they later spread throughout the country and around the world. Health experts and public officials have expressed concerns that these mass gatherings may cause an exacerbated spread of the virus since May 31st or earlier.

On the first of July, the WHO announced that the number of cases reached 6,057,853 and the death tally became 371,166

On the second of June, Brazil reached half a million cases.

On June 9, the number of cases surpassed the 7 million mark, with a total of 7,039,918 cases infected and 404,396 deaths

Russia reached 500 thousand infections on July 11.

On June 13, the United States of America reached a cases total of 2,010,391 which was over a quarter of the total world infections at the time.

On 17 June, the WHO confirmed that the cases of infections have reached 8,061,550 and the death tally reached 440,290.

On 19 June, the UK reached 300K of total infections but managed to keep their number of daily infections decreasing through the process.

On 6 November 2020, the WHO announced that the infection number has reached 48 million with 48,534,508 cases and 1,231,017 deaths.

On 9 November 2020, Pfizer released their trial results for a candidate vaccine, showing that it is 90% effective against the virus. Later that day, Novavax entered an FDA Fast Track application for their vaccine. The 9 November announcement does not mean the vaccine is about to be released. However, virologist and U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci indicated that the Pfizer vaccine targets the spike protein used to infect cells by the virus. Some issues left to be answered are how long the vaccine offers protection, and if it offers the same level of protection to all ages. Initial doses will likely go to healthcare workers on the front lines.

On 9 November 2020 the United States surpassed 10 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, making it the country with the most cases worldwide by a large margin.

As of 12 December 2020, more than 71.1 million cases have been reported worldwide due to COVID-19; more than 1.59 million have died and more than 45.4 million have recovered.