FEBRUARY 2020 - COVID 19 TIMELINE

 February 2 — Global Air Travel Is Restricted

By 5 pm on Sunday, those en route to the United States had to have left China or they faced a 2-week home-based quarantine if they had been in Hubei province. Mainland visitors, however, will need to undergo health screenings upon their return, and foreign nationals can even be denied admittance. 

Other countries started to impose similar air-travel restrictions at this point include Australia, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand.

February 3 — US Declares Public Health Emergency

WHO declared a Global Health Emergency as more than 9800 cases of the virus and more than 200 deaths had been confirmed worldwide.

February 10 — China’s COVID-19 Deaths Exceed Those of SARS Crisis

The COVID-19 death toll surpasses that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak from 17 years ago, totalling 908 reported deaths in China in the last month compared with 774 deaths in the SARS crisis.

February 25 — CDC Says COVID-19 Is Heading Toward Pandemic Status

Explaining what would signify a pandemic, Nancy Messonnier, MD, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, says that thus far COVID-19 meets 2 of the 3 required factors: illness resulting in death and sustained person-to-person spread. Worldwide spread is the third criteria not yet met at the time.