Here are some timeline notes, hardly an exhaustive list I’m sure /
source:
31 Dec 2019
WHO’s Country Office in the People’s Republic of China picked up a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website on cases of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China.
The Country Office notified the International Health Regulations (IHR) focal point in the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office about the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission media statement of the cases and provided a translation of it.
WHO’s Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) platform also picked up a
media report on ProMED (a programme of the International Society for Infectious Diseases) about the same cluster of cases of “pneumonia of unknown cause”, in Wuhan.
Several health authorities from around the world contacted WHO seeking additional information.
1 January 2020
WHO requested information on the reported cluster of atypical pneumonia cases in Wuhan from the Chinese authorities.
WHO activated its
Incident Management Support Team (IMST), as part of its emergency response framework, which ensures coordination of activities and response across the three levels of WHO (Headquarters, Regional, Country) for public health emergencies.
2 January 2020
The WHO Representative in China wrote to the National Health Commission, offering WHO support and repeating the request for further information on the cluster of cases.
WHO informed
Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) partners about the cluster of pneumonia cases in the People’s Republic of China. GOARN partners include major public health agencies, laboratories, sister UN agencies, international organizations and NGOs.
3 January 2020
Chinese officials provided information to WHO on the cluster of cases of ‘viral pneumonia of unknown cause’ identified in Wuhan.
4 January 2020
WHO
tweeted that there was a cluster of pneumonia cases – with no deaths – in Wuhan, Hubei province, People’s Republic of China, and that investigations to identify the cause were underway.
5 January 2020
WHO shared detailed information about a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause through the IHR (2005) Event Information System, which is accessible to all Member States. The event notice provided information on the cases and advised Member States to take precautions to reduce the risk of acute respiratory infections.
WHO also issued its
first Disease Outbreak News report. This is a public, web-based platform for the publication of technical information addressed to the scientific and public health communities, as well as global media. The report contained information about the number of cases and their clinical status; details about the Wuhan national authority’s response measures; and WHO’s risk assessment and advice on public health measures. It advised that “WHO’s recommendations on public health measures and surveillance of influenza and severe acute respiratory infections still apply”.
9 January 2020
WHO
reported that Chinese authorities have determined that the outbreak is caused by a novel coronavirus.
WHO convened the first of many teleconferences with global expert networks, beginning with the Clinical Network.
10 January 2020
The Global Coordination Mechanism for Research and Development to prevent and respond to epidemics held its
first teleconference on the novel coronavirus, as did the Scientific Advisory Group of the research and development (R&D)
Blueprint, a global strategy and preparedness plan that allows the rapid activation of research and development activities during epidemics.
The Director-General spoke with the Head of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. He also had a call to share information with the Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH) held its
first meeting on the novel coronavirus outbreak.
10-12 January 2020
WHO published a comprehensive package of guidance documents for countries, covering topics related to the management of an outbreak of a new disease:
11 January 2020
WHO
tweeted that it had received the genetic sequences for the novel coronavirus from the People’s Republic of China and expected these to soon be made publicly available.
Chinese media reported the first death from the novel coronavirus.
12 January 2020
WHO convened the first teleconference with the diagnostics and laboratories global expert network.
13 January 2020
The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand
reported an imported case of lab-confirmed novel coronavirus from Wuhan, the first recorded case outside of the People’s Republic of China.
WHO publishes
first protocol for a RT-PCR assay by a WHO partner laboratory to diagnose the novel coronavirus.
14 January 2020
WHO held a press briefing during which it
stated that, based on experience with respiratory pathogens, the potential for human-to-human transmission in the 41 confirmed cases in the People’s Republic of China existed: “it is certainly possible that there is limited human-to-human transmission”.
WHO tweeted that preliminary investigations by the Chinese authorities had found “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission”. In its
risk assessment, WHO said additional investigation was “needed to ascertain the presence of human-to-human transmission, modes of transmission, common source of exposure and the presence of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases that are undetected”.
16 January 2020
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare informed WHO of a confirmed case of a novel coronavirus in a person who travelled to Wuhan. This was the second confirmed case detected outside of the People’s Republic of China.
WHO stated that considering global travel patterns, additional cases in other countries were likely.
The Pan American Health Organization/WHO Regional office for the Americas (PAHO/AMRO) issued its
first epidemiological alert on the novel coronavirus. The alert included recommendations covering international travellers, infection prevention and control measures and laboratory testing.
17 January 2020
WHO convened the first meeting of the analysis and modelling working group for the novel coronavirus.
19 January 2020
The WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO/WPRO)
tweeted that, according to the latest information received and WHO analysis, there was evidence of limited human-to-human transmission.
20 January 2020
WHO published
guidance on home care for patients with suspected infection.
20-21 January 2020
WHO conducted the
first mission to first mission to Wuhan and met with public health officials to learn about the response to the cluster of cases of novel coronavirus.
21 January 2020
WHO/WPRO
tweeted that it was now very clear from the latest information that there was “at least some human-to-human transmission”, and that infections among health care workers strengthened the evidence for this.
The United States of America (USA) reported its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus. This was the
first case in the WHO Region of the Americas.
WHO convened the first meeting of the global expert network on infection prevention and control.
22 January 2020
The WHO mission to Wuhan issued
a statement saying that evidence suggested human-to-human transmission in Wuhan but that more investigation was needed to understand the full extent of transmission.
22-23 January 2020
The WHO Director-General
convened an IHR Emergency Committee (EC) regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus. The EC was comprised of
15 independent experts from around the world and was charged with advising the Director-General as to whether the outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
The Committee was not able to reach a conclusion on 22 January based on the limited information available. As the Committee was not able to make a recommendation, the Director-General asked the Committee to continue its deliberations the next day. The Director-General held a
media briefing on the novel coronavirus, to provide an update on the Committee’s deliberations.
The EC met again on 23 January and members were equally divided as to whether the event constituted a PHEIC, as several members considered that there was still not enough information for it, given its restrictive and binary nature (only PHEIC or no PHEIC can be determined; there is no intermediate level of warning). As there was a divergence of views, the EC did not advise the Director-General that the event constituted a PHEIC but said it was ready to be reconvened within 10 days. The EC
formulated advice for WHO, the People’s Republic of China, other countries and the global community.
The Director-General accepted the advice of the Committee and held a second media briefing, giving a
statement on the advice of the EC and what WHO was doing in response to the outbreak.
24 January 2020
France informed WHO of three cases of novel coronavirus, all of whom had travelled from Wuhan. These were
the first confirmed cases in the WHO European region (EURO).
WHO held an
informal consultation on the prioritization of candidate therapeutic agents for use in novel coronavirus infection.
The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
urged countries in the Americas to be prepared to detect early, isolate and care for patients infected with the new coronavirus, in case of receiving travelers from countries where there was ongoing transmission of novel coronavirus cases. The Director spoke at a PAHO briefing for ambassadors of the Americas to the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington.
25 January 2020
The WHO Regional Director for Europe issued a
public statement outlining the importance of being ready at the local and national levels for detecting cases, testing samples and clinical management.
WHO released its
first free online course on the novel coronavirus on its OpenWHO learning platform.
27 January 2020
The WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia issued a
press release that urged countries in the Region to focus on their readiness for the rapid detection of imported cases and prevention of further spread.
27-28 January 2020
A senior WHO delegation led by the Director-General arrived in Beijing to meet Chinese leaders, learn more about the response in the People’s Republic of China, and to offer technical assistance.
The Director-General met with President Xi Jinping on 28 January, and discussed continued collaboration on containment measures in Wuhan, public health measures in other cities and provinces, conducting further studies on the severity and transmissibility of the virus, continuing to share data, and a request for China to share biological material with WHO. They agreed that an international team of leading scientists should travel to China to better understand the context, the overall response, and exchange information and experience.
29 January 2020
On his return to Switzerland from China, the Director-General presented an
update to Member States on the response to the outbreak of novel coronavirus infection in China, at the 30th Meeting of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee (PBAC) of the Executive Board. He informed the PBAC that he had reconvened the Emergency Committee on the novel coronavirus under the IHR (2005), which would meet the following day to advise on whether the outbreak constituted a PHEIC.
The Director-General also held a
press briefing on his visit to China and announced the reconvening of the EC the next day. The Director-General based the decision to reconvene on the “deeply concerning” continued increase in cases and evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, in addition to the numbers outside China holding the potential for a much larger outbreak, even though they were still relatively small. The Director-General also spoke of his agreement with President Xi Jinping that WHO would lead a team of international experts to visit China as soon as possible to work with the government on increasing the understanding of the outbreak, to guide global response efforts.
WHO held the first of its weekly informal discussions with a group of public health leaders from around the world, in line with its commitment to conducting listening exercises and outreach beyond formal mechanisms.
The United Arab Emirates reported the first cases in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Regional Director
affirmed that the Regional Office continued to monitor disease trends and work with Member States to ensure the ability “to detect and respond to potential cases”.
The Pandemic Supply Chain Network (PSCN) created by WHO, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum,
held its first meeting. The mission of PSCN is “to create and manage a market network allowing for WHO and private sector partners to access any supply chain functionality and asset from end-to-end anywhere in the world at any scale”.
WHO published
advice on the use of masks in the community, during home care and in health care settings.
30 January 2020
WHO held a Member State briefing to provide more information about the outbreak.
The WHO Director-General reconvened the
IHR Emergency Committee (EC).
The EC advised the Director-General that the outbreak now met the criteria for a PHEIC. The Director-General accepted the EC’s advice and
declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a PHEIC. At that time there were 98 cases and no deaths in 18 countries outside China. Four countries had evidence (8 cases) of human-to-human transmission outside China (Germany, Japan, the United States of America, and Viet Nam).
The EC formulated advice for the People’s Republic of China, all countries and the global community, which the Director-General accepted and issued as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR. The Director-General gave a
statement, providing an overview of the situation in China and globally; the statement also explained the reasoning behind the decision to declare a PHEIC and outlined the EC's recommendations.
31 January 2020
WHO’s Regional Director for Africa sent out a guidance note to all countries in the Region emphasising the importance of
readiness and early detection of cases.
2 February 2020
First dispatch of RT-PCR lab diagnostic kits shipped to WHO Regional Offices.
3 February 2020
WHO finalised its
Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan(SPRP), centred on improving capacity to detect, prepare and respond to the outbreak. The SPRP translated what had been learned about the virus at that stage into strategic action to guide the development of national and regional operational plans. Its content is structured around how to rapidly establish international coordination, scale up country preparedness and response operations, and accelerate research and innovation.
4 February 2020
The WHO Director-General asked the UN Secretary-General to activate the UN crisis management policy, which held its
first meeting on 11 February.
During the 146th Executive Board, WHO held a technical briefing on the novel coronavirus. In his
opening remarks, the Director-General urged Member States to prepare themselves by taking action now, saying “We have a window of opportunity. While 99% of cases are in China, in the rest of the world we only have 176 cases”.
Responding to a question at the Executive Board, the Secretariat said, “it is possible that there may be individuals who are asymptomatic that shed virus, but we need more detailed studies around this to determine how often that is happening and if this is leading to secondary transmission”.
5 February 2020
WHO's headquarters began holding daily media briefings on the novel coronavirus, the first time that WHO has held daily briefings by the Director-General or Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.
9 February 2020
WHO deployed an advance team for the WHO-China Joint Mission, having received final sign-off from the People’s Republic of China that day. The mission had been agreed between the Director-General and President Xi Jinping during the WHO delegation’s visit to China at the end of January. The advance team completed five days of intensive preparation for the Mission, working with China’s National Health Commission, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, local partners and related entities and the WHO China Country Office.
11 February 2020
WHO announced that the disease caused by the novel coronavirus would be named
COVID-19. Following
best practices, the name of the disease was chosen to avoid inaccuracy and stigma and therefore did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people.
11-12 February 2020
WHO convened a Global
Research and Innovation Forum on the novel coronavirus, attended in person by more than 300 experts and funders from 48 countries, with a further 150 joining online. Participants came together to assess the level of knowledge, identify gaps and work together to accelerate and fund priority research, with equitable access as a fundamental principle underpinning this work.
Topics covered by the Forum included: the origin of the virus, natural history, transmission, diagnosis; epidemiological studies; clinical characterization and management; infection prevention and control; R&D for candidate therapeutics and vaccines; ethical considerations for research; and the integration of the social sciences into the outbreak response.
The Forum was convened in line with the
WHO R&D Blueprint, which was activated to accelerate diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for this novel coronavirus.
12 February 2020
Supplementing the SPRP with further detail, WHO published
Operational Planning Guidelines to Support Country Preparedness and Response, structured around the eight pillars of country-level coordination, planning, and monitoring; risk communication and community engagement; surveillance, rapid response teams, and case investigation; points of entry; national laboratories; infection prevention and control; case management; and operational support and logistics. These guidelines operationalised technical guidance, such as that published on 10-12 January.
13 February 2020
WHO’s Digital Solutions Unit convened a roundtable of 30 companies in Silicon Valley to help build support for WHO to keep people safe and informed about COVID-19.
14 February 2020
Based on lessons learned from the H1N1 and Ebola outbreaks, WHO finalised
guidelines for organizers of mass gatherings, in light of COVID-19.
15 February 2020
The Director-General spoke at the Munich Security Conference, a global forum dedicated to issues of international security, including health security, where he also held several bilateral meetings
In his
speech, the Director-General made three requests of the international community: use the window of opportunity to intensify preparedness, adopt a whole-of-government approach and be guided by solidarity, not stigma. He also expressed concern at the global lack of urgency in funding the response.
16 February 2020
The WHO-China Joint Mission began its work. As part of the mission to assess the seriousness of this new disease; its transmission dynamics; and the nature and impact of China’s control measures, teams made field visits to Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan and Wuhan.
The Mission consisted of 25 national and international experts from the People’s Republic of China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Singapore, the United States of America and WHO, all selected after broad consultation to secure the best talent from a diversity of geographies and specialties. It was led by a Senior Advisor to the WHO Director-General, with the Head of Expert Panel of COVID-19 Response at the China National Health Commission (NHC) as co-lead.
Throughout the global outbreak, WHO has regularly sent missions to countries to learn from and support responses, at the request of the affected Member State. Particularly in the early stages of the worldwide COVID-19 response,
missions went to countries facing relatively high levels of community transmission, such as the
Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, and
Spain.
19 February 2020
Weekly WHO Member State Briefings on COVID-19
began, to share the latest knowledge and insights on COVID-19.
21 February 2020
The WHO Director-General
appointedsix special envoys on COVID-19, to provide strategic advice and high-level political advocacy and engagement in different parts of the world:
- Professor Dr Maha El Rabbat, former Minister of Health of Egypt;
- Dr David Nabarro, former special adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change;
- Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention;
- Dr Mirta Roses, former Director of the WHO Region of the Americas;
- Dr Shin Young-soo, former Regional Director of the WHO Region of the Western Pacific;
- Professor Samba Sow, Director-General of the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali.
24 February 2020
The Team Leaders of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 held a
press conference to report on the main findings of the mission.
The Mission warned that "much of the global community is not yet ready, in mindset and materially, to implement the measures that have been employed to contain COVID-19 in China”.
The Mission stressed that “to reduce COVID-19 illness and death, near-term readiness planning must embrace the large-scale implementation of high-quality, non-pharmaceutical public health measures”, such as case detection and isolation, contact tracing and monitoring/quarantining and community engagement.
Major recommendations were developed for the People’s Republic of China, countries with imported cases and/or outbreaks of COVID-19, uninfected countries, the public and the international community. For example, in addition to the above, countries with imported cases and/or outbreaks were recommended to "immediately activate the highest level of national Response Management protocols to ensure the all-of-government and all-of-society approach needed to contain COVID-19".
Success was presented as dependent on fast decision-making by top leaders, operational thoroughness by public health systems and societal engagement.
In addition to the Mission press conference, WHO published
operational operational considerations for managing COVID-19 cases and outbreaks on board ships, following the outbreak of COVID-19 during an international voyage.
25 February 2020
Confirmation of the second case in WHO's African Region, in Algeria. This followed the earlier reporting of a case in Egypt, the first on the African continent. The Regional Director for Africa called for countries to step up their readiness.
27 February 2020
WHO published
guidance on the rational use of personal protective equipment, in view of global shortages. This provided recommendations on the type of personal protective equipment to use depending on the setting, personnel and type of activity.
28 February 2020
The
Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission was issued, as a reference point for countries on measures needed to contain COVID-19.
29 February 2020
WHO published
considerations for the quarantine of individuals in the context of containment for COVID-19. This described who should be quarantined and the minimum conditions for quarantine to avoid the risk of further transmission.
3 March 2020
WHO issued a
call for industry and governments to increase manufacturing by 40 per cent to meet rising global demand in response to the shortage of personal protective equipment endangering health workers worldwide.
This call fits within a broader scope of ongoing engagement with industry, through WHO’s
EPI-WIN network and via partners, such as the
International Chamber of Commerce and World Economic Forum, the latter of which has supported COVID-19 media briefings at the regional level.
6 March 2020
WHO published the
Global Research Roadmap for the novel coronavirus developed by the working groups of the Research Forum.
The Roadmap outlines key research priorities in nine key areas. These include the natural history of the virus, epidemiology, diagnostics, clinical management, ethical considerations and social sciences, as well as longer-term goals for therapeutics and vaccines.
7 March 2020
To mark the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassing 100 000 globally, WHO issued a
statement calling for action to stop, contain, control, delay and reduce the impact of the virus at every opportunity.
WHO issued a consolidated package of existing
guidance covering the preparedness, readiness and response actions for four different transmission scenarios: no cases, sporadic cases, clusters of cases and community transmission.
9 March 2020
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, an independent high-level body established by WHO and the World Bank, responsible for monitoring global preparedness for health emergencies,
called for an immediate injection of US$8 billion for the COVID-19 responseto: support WHO to coordinate and prioritize support efforts to the most vulnerable countries; develop new diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines; strengthen unmet needs for regional surveillance and coordination; and to ensure sufficient supplies of protective equipment for health workers.
10 March 2020
WHO, UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) issued
guidance outlining critical considerations and practical checklists to keep schools safe, with tips for parents and caregivers, as well as children and students themselves.
11 March 2020
Deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,
WHO made the assessment that COVID-19 could be characterized as a pandemic.
Speaking at the
COVID-19 media briefing, the Director-General highlighted how WHO had been in full response mode since being notified of the first cases and "called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action".
Recognising that COVID-19 was not just a public health crisis but one that would touch every sector, he restated WHO's call – made from the beginning – for countries to take a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach, built around a comprehensive strategy to prevent infections, save lives and minimize impact.
Emphasising that "we cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough", he stressed that "all countries can still change the course of this pandemic" if they “detect, test, treat, isolate, trace, and mobilize their people in the response”.
He stressed that “the challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same – it’s whether they will”.
13 March 2020
The Director-General
said that Europe had become the epicentre of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from the People’s Republic of China.
WHO, the UN Foundation and partners launched the
COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to receive donations from private individuals, corporations and institutions. In
just 10 days, the Fund raised more than US$70 million, from more than 187,000 individuals and organizations, to help health workers on the front lines to do their life-saving work, treat patients and advance research for treatments and vaccines.
16 March 2020
WHO launched the
COVID-19 Partners Platform as an enabling tool for all countries, implementing partners, donors and contributors to collaborate in the global COVID-19 response. The Partners Platform features real-time tracking to support the planning, implementation and resourcing of country preparedness and response activities.
17 March 2020
WHO, together with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) published guidance on
scaling-up COVID-19 outbreak readiness and response operations in camps and camp-like settings.
18 March 2020
WHO and partners launched the
Solidarity trial, an international clinical trial that aims to generate robust data from around the world to find the most effective treatments for COVID-19.
While randomized clinical trials normally take years to design and conduct, the Solidarity trial was designed to accelerate this process. Enrolling patients in one single randomized trial was to help facilitate the rapid worldwide comparison of unproven treatments. This arrangement was also to overcome the risk of multiple small trials not generating the strong evidence needed to determine the relative effectiveness of potential treatments.
WHO published
guidance on mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak.
20 March 2020
WHO Health Alert, which offers instant and accurate information about COVID-19,
launched on WhatsApp. It is available in multiple languages with users around the world.
21 March 2020
In light of many Member States facing shortfalls in testing capacity, WHO published laboratory testing strategy
recommendations for COVID-19.
23 March 2020
WHO and FIFA
launched the ‘Pass the message to kick out coronavirus’ awareness campaign, led by world-renowned footballers, who called on people around the world to protect their health, through hand washing, coughing etiquette, not touching one’s face, maintaining physical distance and staying home if feeling unwell.
25 March 2020
The UN
Global Humanitarian Response Plan was launched by the WHO Director-General, UN Secretary-General, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UNICEF Executive Director.
WHO also updated its
operational planning guidelines to help countries balance the demands of responding directly to COVID-19 while maintaining essential health service delivery, protecting health care workers and mitigating the risk of system collapse.
