The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Health Security compiled a timeline of selected events since the onset of the pandemic:
December 31: Wuhan Municipal Health Commission publishes the initial report of unidentified pneumonia, potentially linked to a local market
January 6: US CDC issues a Level 1 travel watch for Wuhan, China
January 11: First reported COVID-19 death in China
January 13: First COVID-19 case reported outside of China
January 21: First COVID-19 case reported in the US
January 23: China implements “lockdown” in Wuhan
January 24: First imported COVID-19 cases reported in Europe (France)
January 27: US CDC issues Level 3 travel warning for China, recommending against non-essential travel
January 27: First documented SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Europe (Germany)
January 29: First COVID-19 cases reported in Eastern Mediterranean Region (United Arab Emirates)
January 30: WHO declares COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern
January 30: US CDC confirms first domestic transmission of SARS-CoV-2
January 31: US implements travel restrictions for Mainland China
February 5: The Diamond Princess cruise ship is quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, due to an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak onboard that resulted in at least 712 confirmed cases, including 9 deaths
February 25: First COVID-19 case reported in the African Region (Algeria)*
February 27: South Korea surpasses China as #1 globally in terms of daily COVID-19 incidence
February 29: US implements travel restrictions for Iran
March 4: Seattle and King County, Washington (US), advises high-risk individuals to avoid large gatherings
March 8: Italy implements “lockdown” for affected areas of the Lombardy region in Northern Italy
March 10: Italy expands “lockdown” measures to the entire country
March 11: US implements travel restrictions for all of Europe
March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic
March 13: US declares the COVID-19 epidemic to be a national emergency
March 14: US implements travel restrictions for the UK and Ireland
March 15: National “lockdown” goes into effect in Spain
March 16: Six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, California (US), issue the country’s first shelter-in-place orders
March 18: The WHO announces the SOLIDARITY Trial, a global collaboration to conduct clinical trials for prospective COVID-19 medical countermeasures
March 19: California (US) issues the first statewide “stay at home” order
March 23: The University of Oxford (UK) begins enrolling patients for the RECOVERY Trial, a nationwide clinical trial effort in the UK for COVID-19 MCMs
March 24: National “lockdown” ordered in India
March 24: The International Olympic Committee announces that the 2020 Olympic Games, scheduled to be hosted in Japan, are postponed
March 27: US CDC expands travel restrictions to cover all other countries
March 28: US CDC issues domestic travel advisory for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut
March 28: Italy surpasses China as #1 globally in terms of cumulative COVID-19 incidence
March 29: US surpasses Italy as #1 globally in terms of cumulative COVID-19 incidence (and remains #1 today)
April 4: 1 million global cases
May 15: US government unveils Operation Warp Speed, a program to drive development and production of medical countermeasures against COVID-19
May 17: WHO reports more than 100,000 new cases in a single day
May 23: 5 million global cases
May 24: US implements travel restrictions for Brazil
May 28: US surpasses 100,000 cumulative reported COVID-19 deaths
May 29: New York (US) enters Phase 1 of recovery (NYC on June 8)
June 8: New Zealand declares SARS-CoV-2 eliminated
June 11: European Commission recommends that European countries remove internal border restrictions by June 15 to enable travel within the continent
June 29: 10 million global cases
June 30: 500,000 global deaths
June 30: European Council announces that European countries would lift travel restrictions for 15 countries beginning July 1
July 2: Florida tops 10,000 cases reported in a single day
*Cases had been previously reported in Egypt, but Egypt is part of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.