Covid December 2019
Contents
December
1 December
The first known patient started experiencing symptoms on 1 December 2019. He had not been to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market of Wuhan. No epidemiological link could be found between this case and later cases.[1][2]
8–18 December
Between 8 and 18 December 2019, seven cases later diagnosed as COVID19 were documented; two of them were linked with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market; five were not.[3]
12 December
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported in a broadcast airing on 12 January 2020 that a "new viral outbreak was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, on 12 December 2019". [4]
18-29 December
Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) that will eventually be used for viral genome sequencing is collected from hospital patients between the 18th and 29th of December.[5]
21 December
On 20 January 2020, Chinese epidemiologists with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) published an article stating that the first cluster of patients with "pneumonia of an unknown cause" occurred beginning on 21 December 2019.[6]
25 December
According to a post at China Youth Daily, Wuhan Fifth Hospital gastroenterology director Lu Xiaohong reported suspected infection by hospital staff on 25 December.[7]
29 December
According to a CCDC publication on 31 January 2020, the facts leading up to the identification of the 2019-nCoV were as follows, "On 29 December 2019, a hospital in Wuhan admitted four individuals with pneumonia and recognized that all four had worked in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which sells live poultry, aquatic products, and several kinds of wild animals to the public. The hospital reported this occurrence to the CCDC, which led Wuhan CCDC staff to initiate a field investigation with a retrospective search for pneumonia patients potentially linked to the market. The investigators found additional patients linked to the market, and on 30 December, health authorities from Hubei Province reported this cluster to CCDC. The following day, CCDC sent experts to Wuhan to support the investigation and control effort. Samples from these patients were obtained for laboratory analyses".[8]
30 December
On 2019-12-30, genetic sequencing report of the pathogen of a patient indicated inaccurately the discovery of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS coronavirus) in the test result. After receiving the test result, multiple doctors in Wuhan shared the information via the internet, including Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, who posted a warning to alumni from his medical school class via a WeChat online forum that a cluster of seven patients treating within the ophthalmology department had been unsuccessfully treated for symptoms of viral pneumonia and diagnosed with SARS. [9][10] Because these patients did not respond to traditional treatments, they were quarantined in an ER department of the Wuhan Central Hospital.[11] In the WeChat post, Li erroneously posted that "X Hospital has many confirmed cases of SARS" and "There had been 7 confirmed cases of SARS".[12] Li posted a snippet of an RNA analysis finding "SARS coronavirus" and extensive bacteria colonies in a patient's airways.[13] Li contracted this coronavirus from a patient he treated, was hospitalized on 12 January 2020 and died on 7 February 2020.[14]
News of an outbreak of "pneumonia of unknown origin" started circulating on social media on the evening of 30 December 2019.[15][16][17]The social media reports stated that 27 patients in Wuhan—most of them stall holders at the Huanan Seafood Market—had been treated for the mystery illness.[17]
On the evening of 30 December 2019, an "urgent notice on the treatment of pneumonia of unknown cause" was issued by the Wuhan Municipal Health Committee on its Weibo social media account.[18][19] It was reported that since the beginning of December, there had been "a successive series of patients with unexplained pneumonia"—27 suspected cases in total, seven of which were in critical condition and 18 were stable, two of which were on the verge of being discharged soon.[18] The Wuhan Municipal Health Committee reported to the WHO that 27 people had been diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown cause.[19] Most were stallholders from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, seven of whom were in critical condition. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission also made a public announcement regarding the situation.
Early investigations into the cause of the pneumonia ruled out seasonal influenza, SARS, Middle East respiratory syndrome and bird flu.[20][21]
Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee announced after an urgent night-time meeting with officials and experts, "any suspected cases including the presentation of fever and acute respiratory illness or pneumonia, and travel history to Wuhan within 14 days before onset of symptoms, we will put the patients in isolation."[17]
31 December 2019 (27 cases)
- WHO Reports
- At the close of 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of pneumonia of unknown cause, detected in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China. According to the authorities, some patients were operating dealers or vendors in the Huanan Seafood market.
- Staying in close contact with national authorities, WHO began monitoring the situation and requested further information on the laboratory tests performed and the different diagnoses considered.
