Two years of COVID-19: Key milestones in the pandemic

Two years of COVID-19: Key milestones in the pandemic

Two years after the first case of COVID-19 was reported, we look back at key milestones in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

These include the identification of COVID-19 and its classification as a pandemic, the development of vaccines and their roll-out, as well as the emergence of new variants of coronavirus.

Amid the suffering and population lockdowns, there have been significant milestones in global cooperation.



In the two years since the first case of COVID-19 was reported, the disease has killed more than 5.27 million people across the globe.

But more than half of the world’s population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

As we enter the third year of living with coronavirus, here are some of the most significant milestones in the spread of - and response to - the pandemic.

DECEMBER 2019

The first ‘pneumonia-like’ symptoms of COVID-19 appeared in early December 2019, with some sources suggesting similar symptoms appeared in November.

On 31 December, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed about a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China.

JANUARY 2020

On the first day of the new year, Huanan seafood market was shut down over links to