Italy sees a major surge in coronavirus cases – up to 150.The South Korean government shuts down thousands of kindergartens, nursing homes and community centres, following a surge in infections linked to the secretive church the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.Two days later, Iran announced two additional deaths. Iran announced the two cases then hours later said that both patients had died.

The virus appears in Iran from an unknown source.

A total of 621 people aboard the ship were infected.

443 passengers leave the Diamond Princess cruises ship.

China said it was reviewing its trade and consumption of wildlife, which has been identified as a probable source of the outbreak.

Egypt confirms its first case, the first on the African continent.

The fourth death from the virus outside mainland China.

France announces the first coronavirus death in Europe – an 80-year-old Chinese tourist.

1113 people in China have died with 44,653 cases, and 393 cases outside of China.

The disease is named ‘Covid-19’, an acronym that stands for coronavirus disease 2019.

He was reprimanded by authorities in early January and he was forced to sign a statement denouncing his warning as an unfounded and illegal rumor. Li Wenliang, who tried to ring early alarms that a cluster of infections could spin out of control, dies after contracting the virus. 218 people onboard the ship tested positive for the virus.

A cruise ship in Japan quarantines 3600 people after a two-week trip to Southeast Asia.

The UK directs its citizens to leave China if possible.

The first death of coronavirus is reported outside China, as a 44-year-old man in the Philippines dies after being infected.

Spain confirms its first case of the coronavirus on La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

213 people had died and 9,800 infected worldwide.

The US suspends entry into the country by any foreign nationals who had travelled to China in the past 14 days, excluding the immediate family members of US citizens or permanent residents.

WHO declares a global health emergency amid thousands of new cases in China.

Passengers go into a 14 day quarantine at a specialist hospital on Merseyside.

A plane evacuating Britons from Wuhan arrives at RAF Brize Norton.

The UK’s first two patients test positive for Coronavirus after two Chinese nationals from the same family staying at a hotel in York fall ill.

Schools in Beijing to stay closed until further notice.

China extends the ‘Spring Festival’ holiday in order to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Construction begins in Wuhan for a specialist emergency hospital which opened on 3rd February.

Figures compiled by the Chinese Railway Administration showed that approximately 100,000 people had already departed from Wuhan Train Station by the deadline.

17 people had died at this point and 570 infected in Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and the US. Planes and trains leaving the city are cancelled, and buses, subways and ferries within the city are suspended.

Wuhan (population over 11 million) is cut off by the Chinese authorities.

Public Health England announces it is moving the risk level to the British public from ‘very low’ to ‘low’.

The first confirmed case of the virus in the US in Washington State, where a man in his 30s developed symptoms after returning from a trip to Wuhan.

The first confirmed cases outside mainland China occurred in Japan, South Korea and Thailand, according to the WHO.

Reporters from Hong Kong taken to police station after trying to film the situation within Wuhan hospital.

It was a 61-year old man who was a regular customer of the market in Wuhan where the virus is believed to have originated, and had previously been found to have abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease.

Chinese state media reported the first known death from an illness caused by the virus.

The Chinese government agrees to accept a WHO scientific team to assist their own researchers.

Central Hospital of Wuhan banned its staff from discussing the disease publicly or recording them using text or image that can be used as evidence.

China contacts the WHO and informs them of ‘cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology’ detected in Wuhan.

There was no evidence that the virus was spread by humans.

Days laters researchers in China identified a new virus that had infected dozens of people.

Chinese authorities confirmed they were treating dozens of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause.Chinese epidemiologists with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published an article on 20th January 2020 stating that the first cluster of patients with ‘pneumonia of an unknown cause’ had been identified on 21st December 2019.

Start of lockdown 2021