ALERT: A Global Pandemic and a Global Threat

2019-???

On December 31st 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported several cases of severe, unexplained pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The World Health Organization (WHO) received more detailed information from the National Health Commission China that the unexplained pneumonia was associated with exposure to slaughtered animals at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China. On January 7th, 2020, the Chinese authorities isolated a novel Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, also called the Severe Acute Respiratory-related Syndrome Coronavirus 2. This novel Coronavirus is the causative agent of COVID-19 - a severe, fatal Coronavirus Disease.

The virus first spread throughout China among clusters of people, proving the extreme rate of human-to-human transmission. On January 13th, the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand confirmed the first COVID-19 case recorded outside of China. On January 15th, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan confirmed the first COVID-19 case. On January 20th, the National IHR Focal Point (NFP) for the Republic of Korea confirmed the first COVID-19 case. By February 3rd, 2020, there were at least 17496 confirmed cases with 362 deaths in more than 25 countries worldwide. On March 11th, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

The world is in an international health emergency. Cases continue to surge, jeopardizing human health, well-being, and sanity. As of now, there is no weapon powerful enough to cease this fatal disease. Day by day, the situation worsens more and more.

• Habibzadeh P, Stoneman EK. The novel coronavirus: A bird's eye view. Int J Occup Environ Med 2020;11:65-71. doi: 10.15171/ijoem.2020.1921
• CNN News Channel
• WHO. "Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) SITUATION REPORT - 1 (21 JANUARY 2020)," https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200121-sitrep-1-2019-ncov.pdf