Timeline of coronavirus outbreak (Feb)

This article documents the chronology and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak which originated in Wuhan, China in February 2020, and may not include all contemporary major responses and measures. Furthermore, some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect. (Reporting on this outbreak began in December 2019.)

## Case statistics

Further information: Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak#Case statistics
## Outbreak chronology

### 1 February

**WHO** Situation Report 12: (Please note that the WHO Situation Reports as official reportage stand on their own.)

Australia reported another three cases, including the first two cases in South Australia, bringing their total to 12.

Japan reported three more cases, increasing their total to 20.

Singapore confirms two more cases, bringing the total to 18.

South Korea confirmed the twelfth case of the coronavirus: a 49-year-old Chinese man who works as a Japanese tour guide in western Seoul.

Spain confirmed its first case of the virus on La Gomera in the Canaries.

United States of America reported its eighth case, a man from Boston who recently returned to college after traveling to Wuhan.

Vietnam confirmed its sixth case in Khánh Hòa Province, another domestic transmission in direct contact.

### 2 February

**WHO** Situation Report 13:

India announced its second case.

Philippines, saw the first confirmed death from COVID-19 outside mainland China announced. The case was that of a 44-year-old male who was the companion of the first confirmed case in the country; both are Chinese nationals from Wuhan who had arrived in Cebu via Hong Kong on 21 January. He had been in stable condition prior to his death on 1 February.

South Korea reported three more cases, bringing their total to 15.

United Arab Emirates reported its fifth case.

United States of America, confirmed three more cases, all in California, bringing the total to 11. Two Germans aboard the evacuation flight from Wuhan tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of cases there up to twelve.

Vietnam announced its seventh case of COVID-19, a Vietnamese-American who had had a two-hour layover at Wuhan Airport.

### 3 February

**WHO** Situation Report 14:

The number of deaths in Hubei outside Wuhan reached 101.

According to WHO, there were no new countries reporting cases in the past 24 hours. Nonetheless, Vietnam announced its eighth COVID-19 case, a Vietnamese woman who had been on the same flight with three other positive cases.

India confirmed its third case, in Kerala.

### 4 February

**WHO** Situation Report 15:
Belgium confirmed its first case, bringing the total in the European Union to 24.

Hong Kong confirmed its first death from a 39-year-old patient, the thirteenth confirmed case in the city.

Malaysia confirmed two more COVID-19 cases, which included a Malaysian citizen, bringing the total to 10 cases.

Singapore confirmed six more cases, including the first locally transmitted cases involving four, bringing the total to 24. 2 others came from an evacuation plane from Wuhan.

South Korea confirmed its 16th COVID-19 case after a tourist returned from Thailand, the first to have been infected there.

Thailand confirmed six more cases, bringing the total to 25.

Vietnam announced its ninth and tenth COVID-19 case, including a Vietnamese man who had been on the same flight with four other positive cases.

### 5 February

**WHO** Situation Report 16:

China, in Wuhan now reported 10,117 cases in total, exceeding 10,000. Tianjin, reported its first death. Chinese experts said that nucleic acid testing was only able to identify 30%-50% positive cases.

Hong Kong confirmed three more cases, bringing the total to 21.

Japan confirmed 10 new cases from a quarantined cruise ship, the *Diamond Princess*, near Yokohama, bringing the total number up to 35 cases. There were more than 3,500 on board to be tested.

Malaysia announced two more cases, bringing the total cases to 12.

Philippines confirmed its third positive case, a 60-year-old woman from Wuhan, China.

Singapore confirmed four more cases, including a six-month-old Singaporean, bringing the total cases to 28.

South Korea confirmed two more cases of COVID-19, including a patient who returned from Singapore. That brought the total number of cases to 18.

United States of America, saw Health officials in the state of Wisconsin announce the first case in that state.

### 6 February

**WHO** Situation Report 17:

China, In Zhejiang over 1,000 cases were confirmed, the first such province besides Hubei. Doctor Li Wenliang, a whistleblower who notified the public at large on social media of the coronavirus, died of the infection.

Canada announced 2 presumptive cases in British Columbia.

Germany confirmed its thirteenth case, and Italy confirmed its third, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Europe to 31.
Hong Kong confirmed three more cases, bringing the total to 24.

Italy confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 3, and the first Italian to be infected.
Japan confirmed another 10 new cases from the *Diamond Princess*, quarantined in Yokohama, bringing the total to 45.

Malaysia confirmed two more cases, bringing the total to 14. One of the cases was locally transmitted, the first in Malaysia.

Singapore confirmed two more cases, bringing the total to 30.

Taiwan announced three more cases, bringing the total to 16.

United Kingdom saw the third case confirmed, with the patient having visited Singapore.

Vietnam confirmed two more cases, bringing the total to 12.

### 7 February

**WHO** Situation Report 18:

Guangdong confirmed over 1,000 cases in total, the second such province outside Hubei, and recorded its first death.

Wuhan reported 67 more deaths, bringing the total number of people killed by the virus there to 545; other cities in Hubei reported 14 deaths in total, their net figure now reaching 154.

Gansu recorded its first death.

Another 41 tested positive for the coronavirus on the *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total number of cases in Japan to 86.

Germany announced its fourteenth case.

Hong Kong confirmed 2 more cases, bringing the total number to 26.

Malaysia confirmed one more case from a tourist entering from Singapore, bringing the total to 15.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total to 33. Most of these cases were initially of unknown origin, causing the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level to increase to Orange.

Vietnam confirmed one additional case, bringing the total to 13.

### 8 February

**WHO** Situation Report 19:

China:

Wuhan confirmed 63 more deaths, bringing its total to 608; this now includes a Japanese citizen and a US citizen dying on this day.

Henan became the third province besides Hubei to report over 1,000 cases. Nationally, the number of cases outside Hubei exceeded 10,000.

Aerosol was confirmed as a medium of transmission for the first time.

Beijing reported a first type of case involving a patient, who tested positive after three negative test results, and Qingtian, Zhejiang reported a case where the patient tested positive only after being tested for the fifth time.

France confirmed five cases involving British nationals, bringing the total number to 11.

Japan, three more cases tested positive on the *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total number of cases in Japan to 89.

Malaysia confirmed one more case, bringing the total to 16.

Singapore confirmed seven more cases, bringing the total number to 40.

Thailand confirmed seven additional cases, bringing the total number to 32.

United Arab Emirates confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to seven.

### 9 February

**WHO** Situation Report 20:

China (Mainland) now confirmed a total of 40,213 cases, exceeding 40,000, of which 29,631 were in Hubei. The coronavirus death toll in China rose to 811, surpassing the toll from the SARS epidemic from 2002–03.

Hong Kong confirmed ten more cases, with nine from the same family, bringing the total number to 36.

Malaysia confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 17.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 43.

South Korea reported three new cases of the virus, bringing the country's total to 27.

Spain confirmed the second case in the country in Palma de Mallorca.

Taiwan confirmed its eighteenth case.

United Kingdom confirmed its fourth case.

Vietnam confirmed its fourteenth case, a 55-year-old woman in Vĩnh Phúc.

Six more cases were confirmed on the *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total number of cases on the ship to 70, with Japan having 96 cases.

### 10 February

**WHO** Situation Report 21:

Hong Kong confirmed six more cases, bringing the total number to 42.

Japan confirmed 65 more cases on the *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total to 135.

Malaysia confirmed one more case involving a citizen, bringing the total to 18.

Singapore confirmed another two cases including a Certis officer who served Quarantine Orders, bringing the total to 45.

United Arab Emirates confirmed its eighth case, an Indian national.

United Kingdom saw four additional cases were confirmed, bringing the total to eight. The transmission in these cases is believed to have occurred in France.

United States of America confirmed its thirteenth case in San Diego, a patient who had been evacuated from Wuhan.

### 11 February

**WHO** Situation Report 22:

Germany confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 16.

Hong Kong confirmed seven more cases, bringing the total to 49.

South Korea confirmed one more case, a 30-year-old Chinese woman, bringing the total number to 28.

Singapore confirmed another two cases, bringing the total to 47.

Vietnam confirmed its fifteenth case, a three month-old baby infected by her grandmother.

Thailand confirmed one new cases, bringing the total in the country to 33.

WHO gives the disease the new name COVID-19. Additionally, the virus itself is named SARS-CoV-2.

### 12 February

**WHO** Situation Report 23:

Hong Kong confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 50.

Japan confirmed 39 more cases on the *Diamond Princess*, including one quarantine officer, bringing the total to 174. Another case was reported in Japan itself, bringing the total number to 29.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total to 50. Earlier, 300 employees of DBS Bank were asked to evacuate from the office at Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 due to a confirmed case there.

United Kingdom - The first case in London was confirmed, bringing the country's total to 9.

United States of America confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 14.

### 13 February

**WHO** Situation Report 24:

Vietnam confirmed its 16th case.

Japan confirmed four more cases, bringing the total to 33. At the same time, 44 new cases were confirmed on the *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total to 218. Later on, Japan confirmed its first death from the virus.

Hong Kong confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 53.

Malaysia confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 19.

Singapore confirmed eight more cases, bringing the total number to 58. A school in National University of Singapore will conduct e-learning from 14 to 21 February as a precaution after one of the cases involved a professor.

Unites States of America, the CDC confirmed the 15th US coronavirus case, a Wuhan evacuee quarantined at a military base in Texas.

The government has issued extension of order to shut down all non-essential companies, including manufacturing plants, in Hubei Province until at least 24:00 20th February 2020.

#### Discrepancy in the number of cases

The same day, Hubei reported newly confirmed cases of 14,840, nearly 10 times more than the previous day, while deaths more than doubled to 242. This was due to the change in definition that included clinical (radiological) diagnosis of patients. The World Health Organization indicated that for consistency it would report only the number of laboratory-confirmed cases.

### 14 February

**WHO** Situation Report 25:

Canada confirmed British Columbia's fifth presumptive case, bringing the total number in the country to 8.

Egypt confirmed its first case, a foreigner of undisclosed nationality. This was the first case on the African continent.

Hong Kong confirmed three more infections, bringing the total number to 56.

Japan confirmed four more cases, bringing the total number to 37.

Singapore confirmed nine more cases, bringing the total number to 67.

### 15 February

**WHO** Situation Report 26:

France saw the first death outside Asia being confirmed, an 80 year old Chinese tourist in France. The country also confirmed its 12th case.

Japan confirmed nine additional confirmed cases not aboard the Diamond Princess. Japan also confirmed 67 additional cases aboard the cruise ship *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total number of cases from the ship to 285.

Malaysia confirmed three more cases, including an American passenger from the cruise ship MS Westerdam flying from Cambodia, bringing the total number to 22.

Singapore confirmed five more cases, bringing the total number to 72.

Thailand confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 34.

### 16 February

**WHO** Situation Report 27:

Hong Kong confirmed one new coronavirus case, bringing the total to 57.

Japan also confirmed six new cases, bringing the total of infected people not aboard the Diamond Princess to 59. 70 additional cases were confirmed aboard the *Diamond Princess*, increasing the tally to 355.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 75.

South Korea confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 29.

Taiwan confirmed its first death from COVID-19, a man in his 60s. Moreover, two new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 20.

United Arab Emirates confirmed one more case, a 37-year-old Chinese citizen, bringing the total number to 9.

### 17 February

**WHO** Situation Report 28:

Hong Kong confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 60.

Japan confirmed seven new cases, bringing the total of infected people not aboard the Diamond Princess cruise to 66.
*Diamond Princess* cruise ship in Japan confirmed 99 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infected people on the cruise ship to 454.

Singapore confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 77.

South Korea confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 30.

Taiwan confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 22.

Thailand confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 35.

### 18 February

**WHO** Situation Report 29:

Hong Kong confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 62.

Japan confirmed eight more cases across the nation, bringing the total to 74. At the same time, 88 additional cases on the *Diamond Princess* were confirmed, bringing the total on the ship to 542.

Singapore confirmed four more cases, bringing the total number to 81.

South Korea confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 31.

### 19 February

**WHO** Situation Report 30:

Hong Kong confirmed its second death from the coronavirus. In addition, three new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number in Hong Kong to 65.

Iran confirmed its first two cases resulting in deaths.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 84.

South Korea confirmed 20 more cases, bringing the total number to 51 with the majority of these transmissions happening in a church in Daegu.

Taiwan confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 23.

Passengers start to disembark from *Diamond Princess*, one of the cruise ships in the outbreak. The sheer number of passengers infected has led to questions over the effectiveness of quarantine measures. 79 more cases are confirmed on the cruise ship, bringing the total number to 621. Japan also reported 10 new cases not aboard the cruise ship.

### 20 February

**WHO** Situation Report 31:

Hong Kong confirmed four more cases, bringing the total number to 69.

Iran confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to five.

Japan confirmed ten more domestic cases, bringing the total number to 94.

Singapore confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 85.

South Korea confirmed 53 more cases, bringing the total number to 104. The first death from the virus was also confirmed.

Taiwan confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 24.

The United States confirmed one more case in California, bringing the total number to 16.

Two deaths were confirmed aboard the *Diamond Princess* cruise ship along with 13 more cases, bringing the total number to 634.

### 21 February

**WHO** Situation Report 32:

Australia confirmed four more cases involving evacuees from the *Diamond Princess* cruise ship, bringing the total number to 19.

Canada confirms one more case, a woman who had recently visited Iran, bringing the total number to nine.

Israel also confirmed its first case, an evacuee from the *Diamond Princess*.

Italy confirmed 17 cases, bringing the total number to 20. Authorities also reported the first death, a 78-year-old man.

Iran announces 13 new cases, bringing the total to 18. Two more deaths were also confirmed.

Japan confirmed 15 more cases, bringing the total number to 109.

Lebanon confirmed its first case.

Singapore confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 86.

South Korea confirmed 100 more cases, bringing the total number to 204. The country also reported its second death.

Taiwan confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 26.

United Arab Emirates confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 11.

The United States confirmed 20 more cases, bringing the total number to 35. Furthermore, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) announced that only three states were capable of testing for the corona virus: California, Nebraska, and Illinois.

### 22 February

**WHO** Situation Report 33:

Australia confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 22.

Hong Kong confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 70.

Iran confirmed 10 more cases, bringing the total number to 28. A fifth death was also confirmed.

Italy confirmed 59 more cases spread across three different administrative regions, bringing the total number to 79, making Italy the European country with the biggest number of cases of coronavirus infections. The second death was also confirmed, an Italian woman from Lombardy.

Japan confirmed 26 more cases, bringing the total number to 135.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 89.

South Korea confirmed 229 more cases, bringing the total number to 433. Concerns are raised that 9 tourists from South Korea may have caused a widespread exposure in Israel.

United Arab Emirates confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 13.

The urine sample of a patient tested positive.

A genome analysis indicated that the virus in Huanan Seafood Market originated from outside.

### 23 February

**WHO** Situation Report 34:

Canada confirmed one more presumptive case in Ontario. The samples had been sent to the National Microbiology Lab for further testing. Later, the cases was confirmed positive, bringing the total number to 10.

Hong Kong confirmed four more cases, bringing the total number to 74.

Iran confirmed 15 more cases and two more deaths, bringing the total number to 43 and 8 respectively.

Israel confirmed one more case, who was a passenger on the cruise ship, bringing the total number to 2.

Italy confirmed 73 new cases, bringing the total to 152 spread across five different administrative regions. The third death was also reported. Italy is now the third country in the world by number of cases, after China and South Korea.

South Korea confirmed 169 more cases, bringing the total number to 602. Four more deaths were also confirmed.

Taiwan confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 28.

United Kingdom confirmed four new cases, all involving evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, bringing the total number to 13.

There were 57 more cases on the *Diamond Princess*, bringing the total number to 691. One death associated to the cruise ship was also confirmed, bringing the total number to 3.

### 24 February

**WHO** Situation Report 35:

Afghanistan confirmed its first case involving a person who recently returned from the Iranian city of Qom.

Bahrain confirmed its first case involving a Bahraini citizen who travelled to Iran.

Canada confirmed one more case in British Columbia, bringing the total number to 11.

Hong Kong confirmed seven more cases, bringing the total number to 81.

Iran confirmed 18 more cases, bringing the total number to 61. Four more deaths were also reported in the country, bringing the total number to 12.

Iraq confirmed its first case involving an Iranian student.

Italy confirmed 74 new cases, bringing the total to 229 spread across six different administrative regions. Four more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total number to 7.

Kuwait announced their first cases involving five people arriving from the Iranian city of Mashhad.

Oman confirmed its first cases involving two Omani women who had come from Iran.

Singapore confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 90.

South Korea confirmed 231 more cases, bringing the total number to 833. The seventh death was also confirmed.

Spain confirmed its third positive case, an Italian man, in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Taiwan confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 30.

The United States confirmed 18 more cases including evacuated passengers from the cruise ship, bringing the total number to 53.

A patient in Sichuan province tested positive only on her 9th test.

### 25 February

**WHO** Situation Report 36:

Algeria reported its first case, an Italian man who arrived on 17 February.

Austria reported its first two cases, two Italians living in Tyrol tested positive for the coronavirus. One of the couple was a receptionist at a hotel and as a result the hotel in the Alpine tourist hub of Innsbruck was sealed off in an effort to contain the outbreak.

Bahrain confirmed its second case, a Bahraini woman who had travelled from Iran through Dubai International Airport. This later increased to eight confirmed cases with the addition of two Bahraini men and four Saudi Arabian women. Later on the same day, Bahrain updated the number of cases to 17, with all infected people travelling from Iran. This total later rose again to 23 cases, again all having travelled from Iran.

Brazil Ministry of Health reported the first positive case of coronavirus in the country and South America, a 61-year-old man from São Paulo, who travelled to Lombardy, Italy, between 9 and 21 February. He was showing mild symptoms and quarantined at home, the confirmation test was also positive.

Croatia announced its first case of the virus, with a patient hospitalised in the capital, Zagreb, who had travelled to Italy and stayed in Milan.

France saw two additional cases: one was a French man returning from a trip in the Lombardy region of Italy; the other was a young Chinese woman returning to France from a trip to China. This took the total number of cases in the country to 14.

Germany saw a case identified in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia of a person recently returned from Italy, taking the country's cases to 17. Another man was later confirmed to be positive, bringing the total number to 18.

Hong Kong confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 84.

Iranian officials confirmed the death toll was officially now 16. There were 34 more cases, bringing the total number to 95. The same day, Iranian MP Mahmoud Sadeghi confirmed he had tested positive for the virus, along with Iraj Harirchi (fa), the Deputy Minister for Health, who had the previous day been part of a press conference about Iran’s handling of the virus.

Iraq confirmed five more cases - an Iranian student and a family of four who had arrived from Iran, taking the total number of cases to 6.

Italy confirmed 94 new cases, bringing the total to 323 spread across nine different administrative regions. Three more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total number to 10. This later in the day rose to four deaths, bringing the total to 11.

Kuwait confirmed four additional cases, all of them people who had returned from Iran, taking their total to 9 cases.

Oman confirmed two additional cases, taking its total to four cases. Both the additional cases were linked to travel to Iran.

Singapore confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 91.

South Korea confirmed 144 more cases, bringing the total number to 977. Four more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total to 11. Among those infected included a Korean Air crew member.

Spain, Canary Islands: on the island of Tenerife two Italian hotel guests tested positive for the virus. This resulted in hundreds of guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel being isolated to facilitate further testing and to halt the spread of the disease. Later in the day, the first case was reported in mainland Spain, with a woman from Catalonia, who had recently returned from Italy, diagnosed in Barcelona. A seventh case was confirmed in the late evening by the Madrid regional government.

Switzerland's government announced the first infection in the country.

Taiwan confirmed one more case, an 11-year-old boy, bringing the total number to 31.

Thailand reported two more cases, taking its total to 37. The two new cases, both Thai nationals, were people who were being monitored due to the travel history of others who had travelled to countries with infection risks.

The fourth death associated with *Diamond Princess* was confirmed.

### 26 February

**WHO** Situation Report 37:
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom, noted that
"...14 countries that have had cases have not reported a case for more than a week, and even more importantly, 9 countries have not reported a case for more than two weeks: Belgium, Cambodia, Finland, India, Nepal, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and Sweden."

Australia confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 23.

Bahrain confirmed three additional cases, bringing its total to 26. Later in the evening it confirmed another 7 cases, taking the total to 33.

Canada confirmed a new case in Toronto of a woman with travel history to Iran. This took the country's total to 12.

Croatia confirmed its second and third cases, the second being the twin brother of the first patient and the third being a man who works in Parma, Italy.

Finland reported its second case.

France confirmed three new cases, taking it to 17 cases. It also announced its second death from the disease, a 60-year-old French man who had been diagnosed the night before. An eighteenth case was later declared.

Georgia reported its first case in the country, a Georgian native travelling from Iran.

Germany reported five additional cases. By the end of the day the overall total number of cases in the country had risen to 27.

Greece confirmed its first case, a 38-year-old woman who had recently travelled to Italy.

Hong Kong reported six new cases, including a 16-year-old boy and his 21-year-old sister who were both on the Diamond Princess, bringing the total to 91 cases.

Italy confirmed 51 additional cases, bringing its total to 374. It also confirmed the twelfth death from the virus. In the evening they declared 27 new cases followed by an additional 54 cases, with two earlier cases declared false positives.

Iran confirmed four more deaths, taking the total to 19. Another 44 cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 139.

Japan confirmed its second death from the virus. It also reported 5 new confirmed cases in Nagoya. A third death was later confirmed.

Kuwait confirmed that their total of confirmed cases had risen to 12 with one new case. Later that day they confirmed the overall total had risen to 25.

Lebanon confirmed its second case.

North Macedonia confirmed its first case, a woman who had recently returned home from Italy.

Norway confirmed its first case, a person who had returned from China.

Pakistan confirmed its first case, a 22-year-old man from Sindh province who had travelled to Iran, and also confirmed a second case with no further details.

Romania confirmed its first case.

Singapore confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 93.

Spain confirmed five more cases including a man who was hospitalised in Seville after testing positive, bringing the total number to 12. This was the first confirmed case in the southern region of Andalusia. Another case was later confirmed in the Canary Islands.

South Korea confirmed 169 more cases, bringing the total number to 1,146. It also recorded an additional death, increasing its total to 12. In the afternoon, the country reported 115 more infections, bringing the total number to 1,261.

Sweden reported a new case, the second in the country.

Taiwan confirmed an additional case, bringing its total to 32.

Thailand confirmed three additional cases, bringing its total to 40 cases.

The United States confirmed three new cases - one being a domestic case in California with no travel history, and the other two being former passengers of the Diamond Princess - bringing the total number to 60.

Diamond Princess saw 14 new confirmed cases, taking it to 705 cases within the ship. It is estimated that more passengers on the ship could be infected than previously thought.

For the first time, a case was re-imported back to China from another country; the patient travelled from Iran.

### 27 February

**WHO** Situation Report 38:

Austria reported its third case, the first in Vienna.

Canada confirmed the first human-to-human transmission in Toronto, the husband of the woman who had travelled to Iran, bringing the total cases in the country to 13. The country later reported a presumptive case in Quebec. The patient had travel history to Iran. This presumptive case was the first case in Quebec, bringing the total number to 14.

China reported through the National Health Commission 433 new cases and 29 new deaths across the mainland. Of those, 409 cases and 26 deaths were in Hubei province.

Denmark confirmed its first case, a person who had recently returned from Italy.

Estonia reported its first case, an Iranian man who had recently returned from Iran.

France reported 20 new cases, raising the number of cases in the country to 38.

Germany saw another case reported in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the evening it was reported that there were 14 new cases in the same state, bringing Germany's total to 40 cases. The cases rose to 45 by the end of the day.

Greece confirmed two more cases, the first patient's daughter and another woman in Athens, bringing the total to 3 cases.

Hong Kong reported two additional cases, both women infected after visiting a Hong Kong temple at the centre of a COVID-19 cluster. This took the total number of cases to 93.

Iran reported that 22 people had now died amid 141 people infected by the virus. The chairman of Iran's National Security Committee, Mojtaba Zolnour, announced he had been infected. Iran later announced an increase to 26 deaths and 245 cases. The country's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Masoumeh Ebtekar also tested positive.

Iraq reported a new case associated with travelling to Iran, the sixth in the country and the first in Baghdad. A seventh case was confirmed in Kirkuk later in the day.

Israel reported an additional case, a person who had travelled to Italy, bringing the total number to 3.

Italy reported that two more people had died, bringing the death toll to 14. The Civil Protection agency reported the number of confirmed cases had risen from 420 to 528. Later in the day it was announced that three more people had died, taking the death toll to 17, and the total confirmed cases had risen to 650. At the end of the day, the total cases rose to 655. Mayor Pietro Mazzocchi of Borgonovo Val Tidone was diagnosed with the virus.

Japan reported 17 new cases. It confirmed a case involving a recovered patient being reinfected with COVID-19. The total number of local cases had increased to 186. An eighth person died, a Japanese man in his 80's, who lived in the northern-most island of Hokkaido. Additionally, prime minister Shinzo Abe asked that all elementary, middle, and high schools shall be closed until late March.

Kuwait confirmed the total cases in the country were 43, with all having recently travelled to Iran.

Lebanon reported a third case with the person having travelled from Iran.

Malaysia confirmed an additional case, a woman who had recently travelled to Japan, bringing the total to 23. That made it the first case to be imported from Japan.

Netherlands reported its first case, a person who had been skiing in Italy.

Nigeria confirmed its first case, an Italian citizen who worked in Nigeria and returned from Milan. It was the first case of coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa.

Norway confirmed three additional cases, two in Oslo and one in Bærum, taking the total to four cases. Two returned from Italy and one from Iran.

Oman reported an additional case, raising the country's total to 5. An additional case was confirmed later that day, who had travelled from Iran.

San Marino confirmed its first case.

Singapore confirmed three more cases, bringing the total number to 96.

South Korea reported 334 new cases, bringing the total number to 1,595. 171 additional cases were later confirmed, taking the total number to 1,766.

Spain saw a new case reported in Valencia and two more in Madrid. A further case was reported in Barcelona. By the early evening, the total number of confirmed cases had risen to 22. In the evening six additional cases were declared in Valencia.

Sweden had five new cases confirmed, one in the Uppsala region, three people in Västra Götaland, and one in the Stockholm region.

Switzerland reported more cases, with a total of six confirmed cases across five cantons. By the end of the day, a total of eight cases had been detected.

United Arab Emirates saw two suspected cases attached to the UAE Tour, a cycling event, which resulted in the cancellation of the event

The United Kingdom confirmed two more cases, contracted in Italy and Tenerife, taking the total to 15 cases. In the evening, a sixteenth case was confirmed, and the first case in Northern Ireland, someone who had come from Italy via Dublin.

The United Arab Emirates reported the recovery of two patients, and six new cases, bringing the total number to 19.

### 28 February

**WHO** Situation Report 39:

Australia confirmed one additional case, a former Diamond Princess passenger now in Western Australia, bringing the total number to 24.

Azerbaijan confirmed its first case, a Russian national who recently returned from Iran.

Bahrain announced three new cases, raising the total to 36. An additional two cases were later confirmed, both had recently travelled from Iran, one being a Saudi Arabian national.

Belarus confirmed its first case, a student from Iran.

Canada reported two positive cases in Ontario. One of them had travel history to Iran, while the other had visited Egypt. The total number of cases rose to 16.

China confirmed an additional 327 new confirmed cases, of which 318 were in the province of Hubei. There were 44 deaths of which 41 were in Hubei, with one in Xinjiang and two in Beijing.

Croatia confirmed two new cases, one beeing the girlfriend of the first patient and the other the wife of the third patient, bringing the total number to 5.

Denmark confirmed an additional case, bringing the total number to 2.

Finland confirmed an additional case, taking it to 3 confirmed cases.

France announced two new cases, bringing the total number to 40. The total number of cases later rose to 57.

Georgia confirmed a second case, a citizen returned from Italy. More than 18 people were reported to be in quarantine.

Germany reported cases totalled "almost 60", according to a Health Ministry official.

Greece confirmed an additional case, who had recently travelled to Italy. This was the country's fourth case.

Hong Kong confirmed an additional case, a patient from Diamond Princess, bringing the total number to 94.

Iceland confirmed its first case, a person returned from Italy.

Iran confirmed 143 new cases and 6 more deaths, with total cases now 388 and 32 deaths. Four MP's had tested positive, an increase on the two who had already announced their cases.

Iraq confirmed an eighth case, a woman who recently came back from Iran.

Israel confirmed an additional case, the second in the country - the wife of the previous person diagnosed. Five additional cases were later confirmed, taking the total to 7. One of the new cases was an Israeli who had recovered in Japan, who was diagnosed again after returning.

Italy reported that four more people had died, bringing the death toll to 21. The number of confirmed cases had risen from 650 (the day before) to 888.

Japan announced an additional death, bringing the total to 5. They also confirmed 12 new cases in Hokkaido. Japan also later confirmed another death regarding a British native on board the Diamond Princess, marking the first foreign victim on the cruise ship.

Kuwait announced two additional cases, taking its total to 45.

Lebanon confirmed its fourth case, a Syrian man, the first case of local transmission.

Lithuania confirmed its first case, a woman who returned from Italy.

Malaysia confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 25.

Mexico confirmed its first two cases, one in Mexico City and one in Culiacán. Both cases were individuals who recently returned from a trip to Bergamo, Italy.

Monaco saw the government confirm the first case in the principality.

New Zealand confirmed its first case, an individual who had returned from Iran to Auckland earlier in the week.

Netherlands confirmed its second case.

Norway confirmed two other cases, with the second having serious implications. First it was confirmed that a person from Bergen, who returned from Italy, tested positive. Later it was confirmed that a person working at Ullevaal Hospital in Oslo also tested positive, after having returned from Italy. According to standard recommendation he was told to go to work, since he had no symptoms, and he had worked with a significant number of patients for a couple of days before testing positive. Norway now has 6 confirmed cases.

Romania confirmed two new cases, both recently returned from Italy.

Singapore confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 98.

Spain confirmed more cases, taking it to 32 cases with 5 in Madrid, 8 in Comunidad Valenciana, 6 in Canary Islands, 6 in Catalonia, 1 in Baleares, 6 in Andalucía, 1 in Aragón and 2 in Castilla y León.

South Korea confirmed 256 new cases, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 2,022. 182 of the new cases were in Daegu. There were three new deaths, raising the number to 16. Later, the number of cases there shot up by 315, bringing the total number to 2,337.

Sweden confirmed four more cases, raising the country's total to 11.

Switzerland's cases increased to 15.

Taiwan confirmed two additional cases, taking its total to 34.

Thailand confirmed an additional case, taking the overall number to 41.

United Kingdom reported its 17th and 18th cases, people who had travelled from Iran, and its 19th case and the first in Wales, being someone who had travelled from Northern Italy. In the evening, the 20th case was confirmed, the first case of being passed on in the UK from an unknown source.

The United States confirmed 4 more cases, including 2 former passengers of the Diamond Princess. Washington state authorities later confirmed two additional presumptive cases, bringing its total to 66. One had recently returned from South Korea, and the other case was unrelated and locally acquired.

SARS-CoV-2 was detected for the first time in tears and conjunctival secretions (pink eye) of a patient. This was only detected in 1 out of the 30 patients that were tested. The excerpt from the study stated, "In the study of this small sample, we used conjunctival test paper to obtain tears and conjunctival secretions of 30 patients for standard RT-PCR assay. Only one patient with conjunctivitis found viral RNA in his tear fluid and conjunctival secretion twice."

### 29 February

Austria confirmed three new cases, bringing the total to 9.

Brazil confirmed a second case of a patient who was in Italy.

China confirmed 427 new cases - 423 of which were in Hubei province - bringing the total number to 79,251. Deaths increased by 47, to a total of 2,835.

Croatia confirmed its sixth case, a close relative of the third and fifth patients.

Denmark confirmed its third case, a person recently returned from a trip to Munich, Germany, where he came into contact with someone who was later determined to have the virus.

Ecuador confirmed its first case, a woman who recently returned from a trip to Spain.

France confirmed 16 additional cases, bringing the total number to 73.

Georgia confirmed one new case, taking the total to 3.

Germany's confirmed cases increased to 79.

Iran confirmed 205 new cases, and 9 new deaths, bringing the total to 593 infected and 43 dead. The deaths include an Iranian MP, Mohammad Ali Ramazani Dastak.

Mexico confirmed two more cases, one man in State of Mexico who participated in the same trip to Bergamo, Italy, that the first two infected made, and a woman in Coahuila who traveled to Milan, Italy, between January and February, bringing the total to 4.

Netherlands confirmed four additional cases, bringing the total to 6.

Norway confirms one new case, bringing the total to 7.

Pakistan confirmed two mores cases, bringing its total to 4. One is a person from Karachi who had recently traveled to Iran, and the other case was in the Federak Area.

Qatar confirmed its first case, a Qatari national who had recently returned from Iran.

Singapore confirmed four more cases, bringing the total number to 102.

South Korea confirmed 594 more cases, bringing the total number to 2,931. This later increased with another 219 cases declared, bringing the total number to 3,150. Another death was confirmed, bringing the total to 17.

Spain confirmed 11 more cases, bringing the total number to 43.

Sweden reported one new case, taking the total to 12.

Switzerland's total increased to 17, of which 12 are confirmed and 5 suspected.

Taiwan confirmed five more cases, bringing the total number to 39.

Thailand confirmed one more case, bringing the total number to 42.

The United States confirmed its first death, a man from Washington near the Seattle area.

## Events, reactions, and measures in mainland China

#### 1 February

Import duties and US-specific tariffs were exempted on imported materials donated for epidemic prevention and control, including VAT and sales tax; the duties and tariffs previously levied were to be refunded.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued a notice late in the evening to deploy medical wastewater and urban sewage supervision, regulate emergency medical wastewater treatment, sterilisation and disinfection requirements, in order to prevent the spread of new coronavirus through faeces and sewage, after the faeces of a patient was tested positive for the virus in Shenzhen.

The Department of Civil Affairs of Hubei Province suspends all marriage registrations starting on 3 February 2020.

Huanggang, Hubei implements a much stricter control, allowing only one person from each household every two days to be on the street for purchases, unless for medically-related reasons, required for epidemic control, or as shop workers.

Alibaba Group announced free taxi service for health professionals in Wuhan.

Hunan government required companies in the province not to resume business before 24:00 on 9 February; the new semester is not to start earlier than 17 February for primary and secondary schools and kindergartens, and 24 February for post-secondary institutions. Tianjin government issued a notice to postpone business resumption and the start of the new semester.

Huanggang, Hubei converted Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre to an emergency treatment hospital, adding 1000 new beds. Huoshenshan Hospital was fully electrified on 23:49.

China Securities Regulatory Commission waived the 2020 annual listing fee that listed companies in Hubei are required to pay to the stock exchange.

China Federation of Radio and Television Associations issued a notice to pause the filming of all films and TV dramas in mainland China during the epidemic.

310 Hubei citizens were repatriated from Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan.

Apple Inc. temporarily closed all Apple Stores in mainland China until 24:00 on 9 February.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) announced new regulations Saturday requiring that all who lose their lives to the coronavirus must be cremated at the nearest facility. "No farewell ceremonies or other funeral activities involving the corpse shall be held," according to the new ruling.

#### 2 February

Wuhan's Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters arranged for Jointown Pharmaceutical to overtake the warehouse management of Wuhan Red Cross after days of scandals and controversies regarding the Red Cross' incompetence, extreme delays in allocating donation resources, and unexplained apparent misallocation of crucial medical supplies.

On the same day, the Prevention and Control HQ issued a set of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescriptions "to help treat the infection". This move follows the January 22 recommendation from the National Health Commission to use TCM to treat the disease. The same official file that contains the prescription also demands that all patients in Wuhan be treated by TCM.

Wenzhou, Zhejiang announces implementing the same measure as Huanggang, where every household may send one person every two days outside for purchases, from 00:00 on 2 February to 24:00 on 8 February.

Huoshenshan Hospital completed construction in the morning and was transferred to the military, half a day earlier than scheduled.

Hubei allows imported and re-imported masks that are unlisted in China to be sold in the provincial market.

The Ministry of Transport extended the cut-off time for the minibus toll-free period of the 2020 Spring Festival to 24:00 on 8 February 2020.

Meituan starts an initiative to disinfect all shared bikes in eight mainland cities regardless of the brand.

With immediate effect, Wuhan's government announced the quarantining of "all suspected patients and those known to have been in close contact with a confirmed case." It stated "Patients shall cooperate. Whoever refuses to cooperate will be subject to enforcement by the police."

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has asked the European Union to facilitate the sale of medical supplies “through commercial channels”. According to a Chinese government statement, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union will try its best and coordinate all necessary resources to provide assistance to China.

A new mask factory has started production in Beijing, after only seven days of being proposed and having all licenses on 31 January. According to Beijing Daily the new factory is "capable of producing tens of millions of masks per month".
It is located in the Yizhuang Economic-Technological Development Area in southeast Beijing.

#### 3 February

The Chinese New Year holiday period ended after having been extended for a week. Mainland stock exchanges reopened, Shanghai Stock Exchange falling by 7.72% and Shenzhen Stock Exchange by 8.45%, with a total of 3,177 shares triggering the limit down of 10%. The RMB to USD exchange rate fell through 7.00, opening at 6.9249 and closing at 7.0257.

In Wuhan, the People's Liberation Army Ground Force takes over medical supplies delivery. “The Beijing leadership realised that almost all the donation points in Hubei and Wuhan have had delivery problems, that there are some opportunists using this crisis to make money,” according to a military source.

4,000 passengers on the World Dream cruise ship were quarantined, after four among them positive to the coronavirus.

#### 4 February

The People’s Bank of China provided an additional 500 billion yuan (roughly US$71 billion) of liquidity into the country’s financial system on Tuesday, following 1.2 trillion yuan (over US$170 billion) the previous day.

Chinese state-backed importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are investigating the invocation of *force majeure* to halt existing LNG contracts, as the coronavirus outbreak depresses energy demand.

#### 5 February

The National Health Commission releases the fifth diagnostic criteria. For Hubei, CT scan results are no longer required for declaring suspected cases, and "clinical diagnoses" may now be made using "imaging features of the pneumonia", without nucleic acid testing required. For suspected cases, "respiratory symptoms" are now admitted as part of the criteria nationwide.

Hubei released an additional ¥200 million (US$28.56 million) as special subsidies for the construction of treatment sites.

The first shelter hospital is put into use. Designated hospitals in Wuhan will now accept only serious cases (confirmed or suspected); other existing and future patients would be redirected to shelter hospitals or community quarantine points.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology applied for a patent of Gilead's antiviral drug, remdesivir, as applied toward 2019-nCoV, in China. The granting of a patent by Chinese authorities was not certain, but a patent would provide China with leverage in negotiating license fees with Gilead. The institute said that it made the patent application "out of national interest, and won’t exercise its patent rights if foreign pharmaceutical firms work together with China to curb the contagion." Seeking a patent instead of a “compulsory license” option does demonstrate some sensitivity on China's part toward honoring Gilead's intellectual property rights. Gilead is working with China on Phase III clinical trials there.

#### 6 February

Dali City apologises for intercepting and requisitioning 300 thousand masks designated as emergency supplies for Chongqing and promises to "return" all of them.

The start of the new semester is postponed to at least the end of February in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Chongqing, and Shanghai.

Sichuan and Guangdong rolled out measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises in response to the epidemic.

Tencent news issued a statement saying screenshots of its Epidemic Tracker circulating on the Internet showing substantially higher numbers are doctored.

#### 7 February

Dr. Li Wenliang dies. Wenliang was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital and one of eight doctors who tried to share information about the coronavirus when it was first emerging, only to be reprimanded by Wuhan police. He likely became infected by the coronavirus while treating patients during January. His death from complications of the infection is declared at 2:58 a.m. local time.

On February 7, the Joint Defence and Control Mechanism of the State Council introduced a scheme of "one province for one city", where 16 provinces would provide medical force support for every city in Hubei except Wuhan.

Hangzhou imposed a temporary ban on retail pharmacies selling fever and cough medicines, asking citizens with the symptoms to see a doctor instead.

#### 8 February

Shenzhen and Shanghai roll out measures to support companies and reduce costs, including measures estimated to reduce ¥30 billion (US$4.3 billion) in Shanghai.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued an additional ¥200 million (US$28.66 million) for Hubei to improve the treatment capacity of patients with severe infections.

Leishenshan Hospital begins operation.

The National Health Commission announces the temporary official names and acronyms for the pneumonia in Chinese and English, respectively 新型冠状病毒肺炎 (pinyin: *xīnxíng guānzhuàng bìngdú fèiyán*) / *Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia* and 新冠肺炎 (pinyin: *xīnguān fèiyán*) / *NCP*.

#### 10 February

Business has now resumed in all 30 mainland province-level divisions, apart from Hubei.

Food prices in China have risen on month of January. According to the consumer price index (CPI) the price of pork rose 8.5%, while the CPI came in at 5.4%. The reason may be due to food hoarding, besides the disruptions of supply chains due to transportation, lockdown measures and holiday demand. The CPI is the highest since October 2011.

Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping has appeared in public wearing a protective mask and his temperature was checked while visiting the Anhuali Community in Chaoyang District of Beijing.

Tibetan New Year public activities due to occur on February 24th were suspended due to the Covid-19 epidemic. Praying activities inside monasteries in Lhasa will be held but will be shortened, without the participation of the public and in a smaller scale.

#### 11 February

Shenzhen University announced the successful development of a new coronavirus antibody detection kit capable of obtaining a result in 22 minutes and reducing the risk of infection of medical staff.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security expanded existing relief measures for micro, small, and medium size enterprises. The NDRC announced its intention to "strictly curb the practice of restricting the resumption of production and production by simple and crude methods such as via approval." The Ministry of Transport (MoT) introduced measures to for the transportation security of both citizens, especially migrant workers, and animal feed. The State Taxation Administration allowed enterprises affected by the epidemic to carry forward losses up to 8 years. The Ministry of Commerce issued a notice to ensure security of living materials in key cities.

Guangdong passed an emergency legislation banning the trading and overeating of wildlife and devolves emergency legislative powers to county-level governments. The provincial government authorised Guangzhou and Shenzhen governments with the power of the emergency requisitioning of houses, facilities, and materials for emergency epidemic response. This was the first time a government was authorised with the power of requisitioning private property since the 1978 Chinese economic reform and since the passage of Property Law in 2007.

China Banking Regulatory Commission proposed to extend Hubei automobile insurance coverage by one month. Shanghai Stock Exchange announced the full exemption of the bill service fees charged to Hubei legal persons in Hubei from February to December 2020.

Shanghai introduced measures to support tech companies and exempt the rent of SMSEs due to nationalised enterprises. Jiangsu's bank and government branches introduced financial measures including liquidity support and credit placement. Zhejiang implemented a one-time subsidy for key acquisition and processing enterprises of poultry and fresh milk in the province.

Cainiao released measures to aid the supply chain and logistics industry. Tmall reduced costs for vendors for the first half of 2020.

A man in Chengdu was under police investigation for interference with the prevention and control of the epidemic.

The first batch of central reserve frozen pork arrived at Wuhan.

Apple extended its device warranty to provide a one-time exception.

#### 12 February

A State Council executive meeting was convened, which emphasised efforts to restore the economy to normal activity and asked local governments to implement measures. The MoT and NHC issued a joint Notice to forbid quarantining of material security providers and drivers if they have not entered Wuhan, provided temperature checks are passed and necessary protection measures are being taken.

China National Railway Group stopped selling seatless tickets and initiated measures to control train occupancy. Tencent announced free cloud service for SMSEs.

Jiangsu rolled out measures to help economic development during the epidemic. Zhejiang decreased the price of enterprise utilities until 30 April. Shanghai decreased enterprise gas price and waived residential gas arrear penalties.

Yunnan now required QR code scanning for entering all public spaces. Airbnb suspended booking in Beijing until 30 April. Foshan, Guangdong was to require advance declaration for vehicles to enter the city starting 13 Feb.

President Xi ordered tax cut to invigorate the economy. Many organizations were ordered to keep rents low and banks to keep interest low. A stimulus package is expected.

Honghu, Hubei began an official investigation into a controversial fine of ¥42630 (US$6110.54) on a local pharmacy for selling 44,000 single-use masks stocked at ¥0.6 (US$0.086) each for ¥1 (US$0.143) each, as it violated a province-wide ban on selling medical items related to the epidemic 15% above the stocking price during the epidemic. The move came after heavy criticism online after the fining became known.

#### 13 February

Hubei released 1.3 million masks for civil use, providing pharmacies at ¥1 each and requiring them to sell at the "affordable price" of ¥2 (US$0.287) each.

In Hubei, The Zhangjiawan District of Shiyan entered wartime control starting 00:00, as well as Dawu County in Xiaogan, the status to be reviewed at least once every 14 days.

Hubei postponed business resumption and start of new semester across the province; businesses were not to resume before 24:00 on 20 Feb. Guangxi prohibited the start of new semester before 1 March.

Wuhan enacts a new rule prohibiting people from leaving their neighbourhoods for non-medical reasons, updating the curfew to a full lockdown.

#### 14 February

The central districts of Yunmeng County in Xiaogan, Hubei entered wartime control. Huanggang, Hubei escalated control starting 00:00, prohibiting non-essential persons or vehicles from entering and exiting communities and initiating the organised distribution of basic necessities.

A new test kit was developed by a team led by Zhong Nanshan, able to yield a result in fifteen minutes with a very high sensitivity and expected to raise the positive detection rate.

Huanggang decided to convert another hospital as a secondary medical institution for COVID-19, after Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre. Xiantao, Hubei implemented mask ex-factory price control, requiring the ex-factory price of single use medical masks not to exceed ¥1.20 (US$0.172) each and non-medical ones ¥1.00 (US$0.143) each.

Beijing required all persons returning to the city to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Shenzhen Metro would start using real-name system starting 16 Feb for epidemic tracing, with passengers able to self-register the carriages they ride in by scanning the QR code in the train.

The Office of the State Council Education Steering Committee prohibited all after-school training institutions from conducting offline training in any form.

All mainland IELTS exams in March were cancelled.

#### 15 February

Honghu, Hubei entered wartime control at 00:00, the decision announced in the evening of 13 Feb.

Jingmen, Hubei escalated control, prohibiting outside vehicles and persons from entering its central districts except for medical and living supplies, and shutting down all business except approved pharmacies, supermarkets, and hotels.

The MoT announced that all toll roads country-wide would be toll-free from 00:00 17 Feb to the end of the epidemic response. The Ministry of Science and Technology introduced measures to strengthen the biosafety management of SARS-CoV-2 high-level virus microbiology laboratories.

Hubei's Provincial Party Committee issued another ¥100 million (US$14.3 million) to local authorities for epidemic control.

The Central Bank of China required cash from outbreak areas to be stored for at least 14 days before entering market, 7 days for other areas. PBC branches reporting to its Guangzhou branch would destroy all cash retrieved from hospitals, agricultural markets, and public transit.

#### 16 February

Hubei implements "hard quarantine" in units of natural villages; no outsiders are to be allowed in and each household is allowed one person every three days to go out for provisions and urgent agricultural material, on designated routes and in limited time. All nonessential public spaces in Hubei are to be closed and all gatherings forbidden. Following its decision on the previous day, the city of Wuxue in Huanggang now bans residents and vehicles without medical or epidemic control reasons from the streets. Anyone in violation is to be sent to a stadium for "centralised compulsory study" about the laws and epidemic response, and any such cars would be seized. All communities in Dongcheng District, Beijing are required to implement closed management.

Guizhou resumes normal traffic, removing all temporary quarantine checkpoints.

The first two autopsies of patients killed by SARS-CoV-2 were carried out in Jinyintan Hospital; its pathology was obtained and submitted for testing. A vaccine of the virus developed by national institutions began its animal experiment stage; clinical trials are expected in April at the earliest.

The NHC urges for the reduction of the workload of grassroots workers, asking for all legally unnecessary procedures to be halted. The General Administration of Customs has introduced 10 measures to support foreign trade enterprises to resume production. Instructed by the Office of the State Council, Alipay is now developing a national unified system of "Health Code" first used in Hangzhou on 11 Feb, a digital health evaluation certificate for the safe resumption of business.

Wuhan released a partial list of hospitals accepting patients not with COVID-19.

The first internet hospitals open in Hunan. Yunnan expedites the approval processes for medical supplies. All secondary and tertiary hospitals in Beijing would start operating on an appointment basis by 25 Feb and 20 Feb respectively for all non-emergency departments.

Nanjing and Suzhou implements real-name system for public transit, following Shenzhen.

Huanggang announced that any person with fever or cough taking the initiative to see a doctor would receive a financial reward of ¥500 (US$71.6).

In response to allegations that patient zero was its research student, Wuhan Institute of Virology released a statement saying no members of the Institute was infected and that the student had been working in other provinces for years.

#### 17 February

Following its announcement the previous night, Xiaogan now bans all its urban residents from leaving home, all its rural residents from wandering, visiting neighbours, and gathering, and all vehicles from roads. Exceptions are made for medical reasons, medical staff, providers of medical and living provision, pregnancies, deaths, essential vehicles, and others granted permissions. Violators would be subject to up to 10 days of detention and put on the dishonest list.

Following its announcement on the previous day, Hangzhou resumes normal traffic and public transport service.

A new makeshift hospital was delivered in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. According to Xinhua, the hospital was designated to treat COVID-19 patients, has 500 beds and 666 medical workers have been dispatched to the hospital.

In a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) it was considered the delaying of the National People's Congress' annual session in March.

#### 18 February

The State Council introduced exemptions of enterprise social security and housing fund contributions. The State Taxation Administration (STA) extended the February taxation filing deadline outside Hubei to 28 February. The State Council and Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced allocating more budget this year to areas heavily affected by the epidemic.

Wuhan passes its strictest control measures. Tianjin now requires QR code scanning for entering public spaces and transport services.

Yiwu International Trade City reopened for business.

Shanghai requires educational institutions to conduct online education when the new semester starts on 2 March, so that student will not go to school.

#### 19 February

The NHC published the sixth pilot version of Diagnostic and Treatment Plan of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, which removed the category of clinical diagnosis introduced in the previous edition for Hubei, as well as adjusted several descriptions, criteria, and treatment guidelines of COVID-19,.

Following its announcement on the previous day, Zhejiang now requires declaration for vehicles entering the province. Meanwhile, public transport across the province apart from Wenzhou will now resume normal service. Guangdong resumes inter-provincial busses in response to the travel needs of migrant workers.

Wuhan bans all vehicles from roads apart from essential vehicles.

Hunan introduced measures to support businesses. Chengdu adjusted its epidemic control procedures and business resumption would no longer require approval.

#### 20 February

Hubei requires businesses in the province not to resume before 10 March, except for essential industries.

Wenzhou removed all checkpoints except in Yueqing and reopened highways.

Wuhan requires residents to measure their temperature twice daily and report any measurements exceeding 37.3 °C (99.1 °F).

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security authorises provinces to exempt certain social security contributions from SMSEs starting February for up to five months.

#### 21 February

More than 500 cases has been confirmed in five prisons in Hubei, Shandong, and Zhejiang. Following the news of the outbreak, the responsible officials in Shandong and Hubei were sacked.

Henan and Shandong removed all road quarantine measures.

Gansu adjusts its emergency response level for COVID-19 from level 1 to level 3.

Following some public confusion with the data released, Hubei prohibited the subtracting of clinically diagnosed cases. A corrected province-wide statistical report was available late in the evening.

Wuhan finished the testing of all existing suspected patients, patients with fever, and people with close contact.

#### 22 February

Hubei introduced measures to reduce business cost.

Liaoning adjusted its COVID-19 emergency response level from level 1 to level 3.

Wuhan requires a 14-day quarantine for patients discharged from COVID-19.

#### 23 February

Guizhou adjusted its emergency response level for COVID-19 from level 1 to level 3, and Shanxi to level 2.

#### 24 February

Quarantine measures in Wuhan were eased slightly, with non-residents allowed to leave the city under certain conditions. The notice was declared null and void hours later as it was published without the proper authorisation. Several officials behind the order were reprimanded as a result.

Yunnan adjusted its emergency response level from level 1 to level 3, and Guangdong and Jiangsu to level 2. Jiangxi adjusted its levels to level 3 or level 2 depending on the risk of the county.

Draft legislation was introduced to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress with a comprehensive ban of the trading and overeating of wildlife.

The Third Session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee originally scheduled for 3 March was postponed.

#### 25 February

In response the epidemic situation in South Korea and an apparent significant surge of demand for flight tickets from South Korea to Shandong cities, Qingdao will now quarantine all persons entering with a travel history of areas with the epidemic, Weihai will now quarantine all persons entering from Japan and South Korea for 14 days, Shenyang will now test the temperature of all passengers entering from the city, and Dalian will now include all foreigners into its epidemic control mechanism.

The State Council introduced an exemption of the VAT of small-scale taxpayers in Hubei for three months, as well as aid measures for individual businesses and stimulus measures for migrant workers and university graduates.

Inner Mongolia adjusted its emergency response level to level 3.

Guangzhou will now test all inpatients for SARS-CoV-19.

Shenzhen introduced a legislation draft for public comment, intending to ban the consumption of all non-aquatic animals except for nine enumerated.

#### 26 February

Beijing required foreign travellers arriving from areas affected by COVID-19 to be quarantined for 14 days.

National measures were introduced to aid business resumption, clamp down on malicious disruptors of traffic and logistics, and prohibit the excessive raising of essential medical supplies or disruption of market order.

Jilin adjusted its emergency response level to level 2, and Hainan to level 3. Fujian adjusted its level to level 2 or 3 based on the risk of the region.

Yantai, Shandong will now test all persons entering China from the city for SARS-CoV-2 for free.

## Reactions and measures outside Mainland China

*Running summary (as of 1 March 2020):* The virus has spread to six continents and there are more than 86,000 cases confirmed. The 61 nations and territories with SARS-CoV-2 infections are:

* Afghanistan
* Algeria
* Australia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Bahrain
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Cambodia
* Canada
* China
* Croatia
* Denmark
* Egypt
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece
* Hong Kong
* Iceland
* India
* Iran
* Iraq
* Israel
* Italy
* Japan
* Kuwait
* Lebanon
* Lithuania
* Macau
* Malaysia
* Mexico
* Monaco
* Nepal
* Netherlands
* New Zealand
* Nigeria
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Singapore
* South Korea
* Spain
* Sri Lanka
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* United Arab Emirates
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Vietnam

Strict surveillance measures are being enforced at airports, seaports and border crossings to prevent the disease wide-spreading into countries/territories which share border or locate in the neighbourhood of Mainland China. Accordingly, some countries are thermally monitoring passengers arriving at their major international airports, while flights from and to infected countries were ceased operating. More seriously, countries such as North Korea and Papua New Guinea bans travellers from all Asian countries.

Land and sea borders are being closed over the fears of the virus. For example, Hong Kong, Mongolia, North Korea, and Russia have closed their borders with Mainland China, while Papua New Guinea closed its land border with Indonesia.
Singapore has closed its borders to all recent travellers of China.

Visa has also been suspended for some countries. Vietnam ceased issuing visa to Chinese citizens, only apart from diplomatic work. Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines suspend visa issuance either: on arrival with Chinese citizens, toward the entire infected area of China, toward Hubei-related visitors who previously had travel history or currently hold a passport issued by Hubei and its neighbourhood's authorities.

Evacuations of each country's citizens have been done and most of them are repatriated and quarantined for at least 14 days. Travel restrictions and advisory have been issued, mainly to China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Italy, Thailand, Iran, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

#### 1 February

Australia's Department of Health issued directives, going into effect from 1 February. Accordingly, travel advisory was increased to level 4: do not travel to all of mainland China. All travellers arriving out of mainland China were asked to self-isolate for a period of 14 days from the time of leaving. Additional border measures were implemented to deny entry of people who have arrived from the mainland China, with the exception of Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family and air crews who have been using appropriate personal protective equipment.

International border gates Móng Cái (Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam) - Dongxing (Guangxi, China) ceased functioning on 1 February for an unspecified time; border gates Hoành Mô and Bắc Phong Sinh experienced a 24-hour closure, awaiting further measurements from authorities.

Taiwan barred nationals from Guangdong (mainland China) and travellers who recently visited the area will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, from entry beginning 1 February.

With the sixth case being another domestic transmission, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc signed an epidemic declaration. Aviation permits which already had been granted for flights between Vietnam and China Mainland-Hong Kong-Macau were all revoked, effective immediately from 13:00 (UTC+7, 1 February) for an unspecified time. It perhaps lasts until 1 May, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration.

India bans the export of N95 masks with immediate effect.

The Government of Japan barred: entry of foreign nationals infected with the virus, and entry of Chinese citizens with passports issued in Hubei province.

102 German citizens and 26 relatives, all of whom were symptom-free on departure, were evacuated from the Wuhan region to Frankfurt am Main by the Executive Transport Wing of the German Air Force. After their return, they were placed in quarantine in a military barrack in Rhineland-Palatinate for 14 days. The coronavirus was found in two passengers on 2 February. On the outward flight, the Bundeswehr aircraft had 10,000 protective suits on board, which were handed over to the Chinese authorities.

Trinidad and Tobago's travel restrictions on persons arriving from China goes into full effect. Persons now have to wait 14 days after leaving China before being able to enter Trinidad & Tobago. Additionally persons who may already be at a port of entry and who were in China or are showing symptoms will be subject to quarantine measures. Thermal screening is also being conducted on passengers arriving from Canada, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States. Testing will also be done by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) on 3 February.

Qatar Airways has suspended flights to mainland China from 3 February until further notice. It is the first air carrier in the Middle East to do so.

Princess Cruises announces restrictions on crew members and guests who have recently travelled within mainland China. Guests who have traveled through or in mainland China 14 days prior to the scheduled departure of their cruise will not be allowed to board. Crew members from mainland China are prohibited from getting on any ship until further notice from the company. Crew members scheduled on connecting flights to China have been rerouted. Two cruises in June have been cancelled and two cruises have been rerouted to arrive or depart in Tokyo instead of Shanghai.

#### 2 February

New Zealand has temporarily banned all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through mainland China after 2 February to assist the containment of the coronavirus into New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Foreign travelers in transit to New Zealand on 2 February will be subject to enhanced scanning but pending clearance will be allowed into New Zealand. New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, and their immediate family members, will be allowed to enter New Zealand but must self-isolate for 14 days. The ban will last for 14 days but will be reviewed every 48 hours.

The Philippines has temporarily banned foreigners arriving from China and its territories, including those who visited such areas within the past 14 days, from entering the country; Filipino citizens and permanent residents of the Philippines arriving from such would have to undergo quarantine for 14 days. Travel from Philippines to China and its territories have been temporarily banned as well.

According to a diplomatic note distributed to foreign residents in North Korea, North Korean authorities have suspended the flight route between Pyongyang and Vladivostok performed by Air Koryo’s. According to the same note "During the month of February, events, ceremonial visits and meetings shall not proceed, and essential meetings shall be conducted via telephone" [...] all diplomats or international organization staff going to North Korea will now be subjected to a mandatory 15-day quarantine process at their “place of residence” from the day of arrival". Those subject to quarantine by North Korean authorities will not be allowed to come into contact with other persons and must not enter public places. KCNA reported all people who entered the country after January 13 to have been placed under "medical supervision."

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced to the public the entry barring of all foreign nationals, who have been to Hubei Province since 21 January, will go into effect starting 4 February for an unspecified time. Also, the visa-free policy for Chinese citizens to visit Jeju Island is to be temporarily nullified.

Indonesia banned all flights from and to Mainland China starting from 5 February. The government also stopped giving free visa and visa on arrival for Chinese nationals. They banned those who live or stay in Mainland China for at least 14 days before from entering or transiting Indonesia. Indonesians are discouraged from travelling to China.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Labors, Invalids and Social Affairs issued directive on temporary suspension to Chinese labours returning to work after public holidays.

Numerous landmark buildings in the United Arab Emirates lit up a Sunday night showing support for Wuhan and Chinese communities around the world over pain and horror by the novel coronavirus, namely: the Burj Khalifa, ADNOC Headquarters, the Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi Global Market, Emirates Palace, Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Burj Al Arab, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, etc.

AirAsia Philippines, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, has suspended flights to and from mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong.

Group of Seven countries are seeking a unified approach to combat the spread.

#### 3 February

The Government of Maldives denies entry to passengers arriving from China.

Hong Kong announced further tightening of border with the mainland. Beginning 00:00 on 4 February, the special administrative region closed most of its border crossings, except the Hong Kong International Airport, the Shenzhen Bay Port and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

Indonesia set to ban live animal imports from China as coronavirus fears grow.

The Japanese Authorities denied entry to any foreign nationals who have been to Hubei province in the past 14 days, even if there is no symptoms of the virus. Japanese officials quarantined a cruise ship, carrying approximately 3,500 people, off the port of Yokohama due to a former passenger on the ship having contracted the virus.

The government announced that the country has imposed epidemiological surveillance, restrictions and diagnostic system to detect possible coronavirus patients at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela's main international airport, and that Venezuela will receive a diagnostic kit for the virus strain from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Lunar New Year holidays was extended for one week to all k-through-12 students in Ho Chi Minh City; public schools will resume on 10 February. The city authorities also ordered to build two specialty emergency hospitals designed to treat people with the 2019 novel coronavirus. With 500-bed accommodation in total, master plans for construction are due 15 February. The capital city Hanoi is considering taking the same measures.

The global Cruise Lines International Association bans trips to mainland China and says that it "will deny boarding to any individual, whether guest or crew, who has travelled from or through mainland China within the previous 14 days."

Boise State University suspends travel to and from China.

At a news briefing, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to distribute testing kits to speed up the diagnosis of the coronavirus. The CDC states that this measure will help speed up the testing and diagnosis of the coronavirus after cases in the U.S. reached 11. The Food and Drug Administration first has to approve the test for wider distribution, the CDC said.

India invalidated all e-visas given to Chinese passport holders since 15 January. It also has stopped giving out new e-visas to Chinese passport holders. India also gave a travel advisory to not travel to China. The travel advisory also stated that anyone who comes to knowledge that had visited China since 15 January could get quarantined.

Several exhibitors and South Korea's Black Eagles have decided to pull out of the Singapore Airshow. This comes as the virus situation worsens.

K-pop band Winner cancelled its concert in Singapore, supposed to be held on 8 February. Several Huayi events in Esplanade were cancelled owing to travel restrictions. In addition, a Stage Club play was postponed.

#### 4 February

The President of Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, declared a state of emergency. Accordingly, Micronesian citizens are banned from visiting mainland China. Anyone who had been in mainland China from Jan 6 were barred from entering the country.

The Nanning–Hanoi through train shall cease service as per agreement between the two national operators. Accordingly, the last train from Nanning railway station departed at 18:05 4 February, and the last from Gia Lâm railway station at 21:20 5 February.

The city government of Macau ordered a shut down of all casinos for at least 15 days.

The United Kingdom directed its citizens to leave China if possible. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, "We now advise British Nationals in China to leave the country if they can, to minimise their risk of exposure to the virus.”

The Knesset in Israel is forming a special committee to deal with coronavirus.

Cathay Pacific Airways, the flag carrier of Hong Kong, announces that it is ceasing 90% of its flights to mainland China.

Royal Caribbean Cruises cancels more ships and adds Hong Kong on the No-Board list. This goes beyond what the Cruise Lines International Association had done, the day before.

Princess Cruises confirmed quarantine of the Diamond Princess carrying about 3,700 people after one of its passengers tested positive in a Hong Kong hospital, and, at least, 20 more infected by the ship's return to Japan.

Hyundai, blaming a parts shortage due to the effects of coronavirus infection, announces it will shut down some production. Nike has also temporarily shut down half of all their stores in China, due to the virus epidemic.

Air India announces that starting from 8 February, they will temporarily suspend flights to Hong Kong.

An aviation conference during the Singapore Airshow is cancelled to allow leaders to deal with the coronavirus. This comes after 16 exhibitors pulled out of the Airshow.

#### 5 February

United Airlines and American Airlines suspended US flights to and from Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific asked all of its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in order to preserve cash during the virus epidemic.

Hundreds more Americans were evacuated by two planes from Wuhan to the United States, landing in this case at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento, California. One of the planes would continue on to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. All evacuees would undergo a two-week quarantine. "Inbound evacuation flights to Wuhan were using their cargo space to deliver donated medical supplies for coronavirus relief efforts." A 12th US case of coronavirus was confirmed in Dane County, Wisconsin."

Hong Kong announced the beginning of a mandatory two-week quarantine for all visitors from mainland China or Macau.

Taiwan banned entry of non-citizens who have been to mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau within the past 14 days.

With the US CDC's endorsement, Colombia INS confirmed that it to be the first country in Latin America that might detect 2019-nCoV without sending samples to foreign centers.

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne advised all Canadians in China but outside the quarantine zone to leave the country "via commercial means".

India starts scanning passengers in flights coming from Singapore and Thailand, along with further travel restrictions on China to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed over $100 Million for better detection, isolation, and treatment research for the virus.

Yum China Holdings temporarily closed 30% of all Pizza Hut's and KFC's that they operate in China, due to the virus epidemic.

Tesla stated that due to the virus epidemic, there would be a delay in the shipment of their Tesla Model 3 car, as they are produced and assembled in a new plant at Shanghai. Production at the plant will restart on 10 February 2020.

World Health Organization (WHO) stated that there had been a large surge in new cases in the 24 hour period, of an amount that had not been seen in any day since the start of the epidemic. The number being 3,100 new patients confirmed within China. Via its contingency fund for emergencies, the WHO has allocated $9 million.

Countering rumors in the media, the WHO stated that there are no known therapeutics, drugs, or treatments that are effective for the virus yet. At least one news source attributed the stock market and Oil price rise to these rumours.

#### 6 February

A business meeting held in mid-January 2020 at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore of an unnamed international sales company resulted in the infection of four persons in attendance: one from Malaysia, one from Korea and two from Singapore.

Virgin Australia announced the permanent cancellation of its Hong Kong routes, citing the coronavirus outbreak and anti-government protests.

Taiwan suspended visas for Hong Kong and Macau citizens.

The Singapore government stated that a 14-day leave of absence would be mandatory for all workers who return from China.

Panic buying of consumer goods was reported in Hong Kong due to rumors of an impending quarantine.

Virgin, KLM, Air France, American Airlines (not including the Hong Kong route), and Iberia extended their current flight suspensions till sometime in March.

Volvo stated that two plants in China were still not reopened and will reopen after a few more weeks.

Shinzo Abe stated that the 2020 Summer Olympics would not be postponed.

Canada started the evacuation of its citizens from Wuhan. The aircraft would land on 7 February.

The Better Business Bureau warned about face mask scams that attempt to use the ongoing fears and make false claims. The scams will either give low-quality or incorrect masks, or will send no mask at all when paid.

The Pentagon was asked by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide military installations near 11 major airports that could each house up to 220 U.S. citizens in support of coronavirus quarantines. The DoD facilities and the airports they could support include: Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, near Honolulu International Airport; Great Lakes Training Center Navy Base, Ill., by Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Texas, close to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; March Air Reserve Base (ARB), Calif., by Los Angeles International Airport; Travis Air Force Base (AFB), Calif., near San Francisco International Airport; Dobbins ARB, Ga., near Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Fort Hamilton, N.Y., by John F. Kennedy International Airport; Naval Base Kitsap, Wash., near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, D.C., by Dulles International Airport; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., by Newark Liberty International Airport; and Fort Custer Training Center, Mich., near Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Professor Neil Ferguson, director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London is summarized in a news report as saying "that the true scale of the coronavirus isn’t being reported by Chinese officials and claims that around 50,000 new cases are emerging in the country daily."

Welsh singer Novo Amor postponed a concert in Singapore to July.

#### 7 February

The White House asked scientists in the US to investigate the origins of the virus. One of the reasons for this was because of the large amount of misinformation that is available about the virus online.

Many colleges across the world were starting to reconsider and look into reviewing current student plans for Study abroad programs to and/or from China. This was due to the health safety for the students. Colby College isolated students who showed no signs of the virus, after they returned from China.

The third British citizen who contracted coronavirus did so through travel to Singapore. "The government is now telling travellers arriving in the UK from a total of nine Asian countries and territories to check for symptoms. They are advised to stay at home and call the NHS if they are ill and have flown home in the past 14 days." The countries and territories are Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Singapore raises its contagion threat level to Orange, as the virus is spreading there from unknown origins. This is only the second time Singapore has activated Code Orange; the first was for the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic of 2009. Similar to reactions in Hong Kong the previous day, panic buying of groceries and consumer goods ensued.

Two Hong Kong jewelry trade fairs, hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, got rescheduled due to the virus epidemic. Art Basel Hong Kong international art fair, that was being held in March also gets cancelled due to the virus epidemic.

The Canadian evacuation plane landed in British Columbia for refueling. The plane was also carrying Chinese nationals and citizens who have valid visas for Canada, these were for escorting Canadian minors. The planes final destination is CFB Trenton.

Continuing the evacuation of American citizens from Wuhan, a rescue plane is landing in Omaha, Nebraska today. Others are landing near San Diego, California and San Antonio, Texas today; two passengers are stated as having symptoms of the virus.

Royal Caribbean cruise lines bans Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau passport holders, as well as travelers who have been in those locales within the last 14 days.

The United States announced aid of up to $100 million for China and other nations affected by the new coronavirus.

The first Canadian evacuation plane lands at its final destination.

Honda shuts down 3 of its plants around the Wuhan region area till February 13th.

The Federal Reserve Bank warns that the virus is a potential threat to the growth of the US economy.

VF Corporation announces that its subsidiary Vans has temporarily closed 60% of all its stores in China.

Burberry temporarily closes a third of their stores in China.

India offers to test samples for other Southeast Asian countries.

Nvidia withdraws from the Barcelona Mobile World Congress by informing the GSMA, due to the threat of the virus.

#### 8 February

The school break in Vietnam was extended in all 63 first-level subdivisions, with the majority to 16 February and five to an unspecified time.

Apple extends the shutdown period of its stores and corporate offices in China. They will reopen at some time during the week of 10 February which is the week after the originally stated week Apple said they will reopen.

Norwegian Cruise Line bans Chinese, Hong Kong, and Macau passport holders, or any one who visited these regions in the past 30 days.

Hyundai has shut down its largest factory due to lack of wiring that connects the electronic systems in its cars.

Indonesia advised travellers to take precautions and be alert while in Singapore, with the government raising the travel alert to Yellow, the second out of three tiers.

#### 9 February

The Kuwaiti Embassy in Singapore called its citizens to delay their travel plans after the Singaporean government raised the coronavirus alert level to Code Orange. The Embassy of the State of Qatar has since followed suit.

Malaysia expands their Chinese traveler ban to include the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

Families in the French village Les Contamines-Montjoie get lined up to get tested for the virus.

Israel has advised travellers to delay travel to countries and territories hit by the coronavirus. In the mention are Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong.

#### 10 February

Amazon, Sony, and Ericsson states that they will not partake in the Barcelona Mobile World Congress due to the virus.

The virus daily death toll reaches a new record of 97 people dead from the virus in a single day.

Asian stock markets fell and went into red due to investor fears relating to the virus impact on the economy.

The plane that was taking people who lived in Brazil or were citizens back home landed in Brazil. The people on the aircraft were taken into quarantine. Before landing in Brazil, that plane landed in Poland, as the plane when it left China were also taking 6 people back to Poland.

HSBC Women's World Championship, LPGA Tour Championship, and LPGA cancelled two more events overall within Singapore and Thailand due to the virus. Thus meaning only two more events remain uncancelled.

The United Kingdom included Singapore in a list of countries where travelers returning are advised to self-isolate if they have symptoms as a precautionary measure.

Sarawak imposed a 14-day quarantine for travelers coming from Singapore in a bid to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. This comes after Singapore's DORSCON was raised to Orange on 7 February.

Over 70 exhibitors have decided to withdraw or not take part in the Singapore Airshow due to the virus. Lockheed Martin, Bombardier Inc., and De Havilland Canada, are some of the many well known exhibitors or companies that withdrew from the airshow.

An event commemorating the release of Japanese voice actress Miku Itō's sixth single, the theme song for the anime *Plunderer*, is delayed by her record label Nippon Columbia due to concerns about the outbreak.

#### 11 February

The Global Grain Conference that was going to take place in Singapore, has been postponed to sometime in June and/or July, due to the virus.

Authorities in Hong Kong evacuate a Tsing Yi Estate apartment building, after two residents who lived separately got diagnosed with the virus.

The virus is lowering crude prices worldwide, as China's demand for crude oil decreases due to shutdowns, lockdowns, fears, and other measures. Oil prices has just reached a 1-year low again, and has been falling for 5 weeks.

South Korea has advised travellers to delay travel to countries and territories hit by the coronavirus; mentioned are Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and Taiwan in addition to mainland China.

Taiwan urged travellers to take precautions when travelling to Singapore or Thailand, and to avoid Hong Kong or Macau unless absolutely necessary.

Singapore and Malaysia will form a joint working group to prevent and control the coronavirus infection.

The Thailand public health minister does not allow a Holland America cruise ship, *MS Westerdam* to disembark in the country. The reason cited by the public health minister is that there are 32 cases in Thailand.

During a live broadcast on the Fox Business Network, anchor Maria Bartiromo suggests China developed COVID-19 as a biological weapon of mass destruction and deliberately attempted to infect United States diplomats at the White House and in Davos, Switzerland.

#### 12 February

American Airlines extend their flight suspensions to Hong Kong and China through some point in late April.

The WHO states that the Coronavirus vaccine could be ready in approximately 18 months.

The United States Postal Service, Singapore Post, PostNord Sverige, and Austrian postal services will temporarily stop sending mail or other postal services to China, and/or Hong Kong as well as Macau. This is due to the available flight shortages and flight suspensions, which is making it hard to send mail to China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Bulgari CEO states that half of its stores in the greater China region have been temporarily closed due to the virus.

The Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix 2020 which is set to held in April, was postponed to a later date due to the outbreak.

The Dalai Lama announced he stopped all public engagement due to the outbreak.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC), due to start on the 24th of February, is cancelled.

CDC announces that a diagnostic kit it developed does not work. This kit was made available to certified laboratories in the United States besides being shared with more than thirty countries. Due to a possible problem with one of the reagents some results could be made inconclusive (neither positive nor negative).

According to the Deutsche Bank, the outbreak of COVID-19 may contribute to a recession in Germany.

Three people escape a quarantine facility in Russia. They did this because according to them, the conditions and officials of the quarantine were not good.

Cancellations in hotel bookings in the Greek island of Santorini have climbed up to 60-70% in the months of February and March, while there are fears of 100% cancellations for April.

#### 13 February

WHO affirmed that the slowdown in the number of new infections should be taken cautiously as the situation can change in any direction. The WHO also stated that it is too early to predict the outbreaks' end.

A lockdown on Sơn Lôi Commune (Vĩnh Phúc Province, Vietnam) was implemented by the authorities after five investigated cases had been infected by a cluster. This would last until 3 March.

Japan announced that a woman in her eighties outside of Tokyo has died. Two taxi drivers also were tested positive.

A solo traveler from China was quarantined at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. This is the 15th case in the U.S.

Champalimaud Foundation, a Portuguese private biomedical research foundation, announced the cancellation of a conference that was programmed to happen on 12th to 13th of March.

European Union ministers of health held a meeting in Brussels.

The ship *MS Westerdam* was allowed to dock in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

#### 14 February

Portugal announced one more suspected case of a child of unspecified age that had returned from China. All previous six suspected cases were revealed to be negative after clinical analysis.

In Bragança, Portugal, two Chinese college students agreed to stay on a voluntary quarantine when they return to Bragança. Although they did not show symptoms and neither had they been in contact with infected persons as far it was known, the reason for the quarantine was a recent holiday travel to China.

In the United Kingdom, two Members of Parliament, Lilian Greenwood and Alex Sobel, self-quarantined after learning that they had attended a conference on 6 February where a confirmed case had also been in attendance.

A German citizen in Palma de Mallorca was released from hospital quarantine after he had been tested negative twice. Previously, he had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and was always asymptomatic.

The first case of coronavirus infection on the African continent was reported in Egypt.

Grab started GrabCare for healthcare workers in Singapore. This came after reports of increased discrimination due to the COVID-19 situation, making it difficult for healthcare workers to get rides.

Japanese singer and voice actress Yui Ogura will now require attendees at her Valentine's Day event commemorating her fourteenth single to wear masks.

#### 15 February

The United States announced it would evacuate Americans currently aboard the cruise ship *Diamond Princess*.

#### 16 February

The Portuguese Directorate General for Health announced it was compiling a list of hospitals in Portugal that might reinforce, if needed, the three hospitals already prepared to received patients. The list should have been ready by 17 February.

According to the responsible of Portugal's medical emergency services (INEM), Portugal currently had four ambulances prepared to transport patients with the novel coronavirus to the referenced hospitals. All INEM personnel, around 700 medical professionals, would also have refresh courses and new training about the virus.

#### 17 February

American passengers evacuate the *Diamond Princess* and will return to the US. They will be held in quarantine for 14 days.

Singapore will enforce Stay-Home Notices for all Singapore residents and long-term pass holders returning from China taking effect from 18 February. They will not be allowed to leave home during the next 14 days.

Following the confirmation of infection aboard the MS *Westerdam*, the Malaysian authorities barred passengers who had traveled on the luxury cruise ship from entry. Singapore follows suit, only allowing citizens to enter with quarantine imposed.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito's birthday ceremony and greetings to the public on 23 February will be cancelled.

The Israeli Ministry of Health requested people returning from Asian countries and territories to self-quarantine. In the mention are mainland China, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

The Tokyo Marathon, due to take place on 1 March, will be restricted to elite runners and wheelchair athletes. Initially, it was expected that 38,000 people would take part but with this change the number will be reduced to 206 participants.

The seventh episode of *A Certain Scientific Railgun T*, "Auribus oculi fideliores sunt. (The eyes are more trustworthy than the ears)", is replaced by a rerun of the sixth episode due to production delays associated with the virus outbreak.

#### 18 February

Getty Images confirmed that it was protecting the identity of photojournalists in China "due to worries about their safety".

Bushiroad, a Japanese entertainment company best known for creating the *BanG Dream!* and *Revue Starlight* multimedia franchises, announced that they would postpone and cancel several events up to 19 March due to the outbreak, and that they would offer refunds. The seventh episode of *Infinite Dendrogram*, "The Dueling Cities", is replaced with a rerun of the first episode due to production delays stemming from the virus outbreak. The 14th Seiyu Awards will have no after-party celebrations, and only winners, presenters, and journalists will allowed to attend the award ceremony on 7 March.

#### 19 February

The Nipponbashi Street Festa in Osaka, a cosplay event described as the biggest of its kind, was cancelled due to concerns with the virus outbreak.

Mediacorp, Singapore's main broadcaster, cancelled its Star Awards ceremony, initially scheduled for 26 April due to concerns over the ongoing outbreak.

#### 20 February

Macau reopened all casinos after a 15-day closure. However, all patrons and service staff would be required to wear masks as part of enhanced measures to reduce the virus spread.

Israel banned passengers who have been to China, Hong Kong, Thailand or Singapore in the previous 14 days.

In Novi Sanzhary, Ukraine, the buses carrying the evacuees from China were attacked by a mob hurling stones and engaging in violent clashes with the police.

Iraq halted travel to and from Iran after the number of cases spiked there. At the same time, travellers from Iran will not be allowed entry.

#### 21 February

South Korea designated Daegu and Cheongdo County as "special care zones", coming after a spike in cases reported. The government also announced plans to send military medical staff and temporary isolation facilities to stop the virus. In Seoul, large protests and demonstrations held on weekends would not be allowed. The military also banned all soldiers from taking leave, leaving the barracks and receiving guests. Residents in Daegu were advised to stay indoors, with commanders of a major US base imposing movement restrictions.

#### 22 February

Kuwait halts flights to and from Iran, and imposed a ban on travellers arriving from Iran as a precaution. Any Kuwaiti returning will be isolated. In addition, authorities there advised against travel to Iran.

Samsung shut its phone factory in Gumi until 24 February, with the floor the infected employee worked shut until 25 February. This comes after a cases was confirmed involving a worker there.

Australia announced an easing of travel restrictions for Chinese students in Year 11 or 12 except for those in Hubei, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The students will need to get approval from states and territories, as well as the schools involved. Similar exemptions for Chinese university students are being considered.

#### 23 February

Turkey shut down its border with Iran and banned all incoming flights as a precaution for stopping the spread of disease after Iran had reported 43 cases. Pakistan also closed its border with Iran, Afghanistan suspends travel to and from Iran and Jordan bans citizens from China, Iran, and South Korea. Georgia imposes restriction on inbound air flights with Iran, allowing passengers only in one direction.

Italy introduces strict measures which place almost 50,000 people in lockdown in an attempt to control the virus. Fines are imposed on those caught entering or leaving outbreak areas. Carnival of Venice is cancelled.

South Korea raises its disease alert to the highest level, coming after the number of cases had continued to increase sharply.

Singapore expanded its health advisory to Daegu and Cheongdo in South Korea, advising travellers to "avoid non-essential travel". At the same time, the definition of suspect cases was expanded to include travellers arriving from these two cities.

Kuwait banned ships coming from Iran to stopping at its ports due to the coronavirus.

Israel extended its travel ban to Japan and South Korea taking effect the following day, following a previous travel ban that included Taiwan, Italy, Australia, and Macau.

Taiwan banned its healthcare professionals in hospital from travelling out to manage the shortage of workers amid the outbreak. Those who need to attend important meetings overseas have to seek permission. This comes after three local governments banned travel by public servants. In addition, military personnel are advised to avoid places affected by COVID-19, with quarantine imposed should they return from these places.

#### 24 February

Oman halted flights to and from Iran with immediate effect. This comes after its first confirmed case there.

In Najaf, Iraq, mid-year exams which had already started will be cancelled until further notice to protect the health of students.

UAE banned citizens from travelling to Iran and Thailand as a precaution against the coronavirus. Oman also banned citizens from travelling to Iran.

Hong Kong bans travellers arriving from South Korea starting from 25 February at 6am. This comes after the number of cases there increased sharply. Authorities there have also advised against trips there, with a quarantine of 14 days imposed should Hong Kong residents arrive from Daegu and Cheongdo. Several tour groups have since cancelled trips there.

Six countries have since banned travellers from South Korea from entering their countries. They include Israel, Bahrain, Jordan, Kiribati, Samoa and American Samoa. Nine others have since placed restrictions.

Mongolia will ban flights to South Korea starting from 25 February to 2 March. The flight ban has since included Japan, with the ban on both countries to last until 11 March.

Taiwan revises rules to require approval for healthcare professionals in hospital to travel to Level 1 and 2 countries, with a ban on travel to Level 3 countries.

#### 25 February

Iraq banned travellers from China, Iran, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Singapore from entering the country. Iraqis were also advised not to travel to these places.

Singapore banned visitors arriving from Cheongdo and Daegu in South Korea from 26 February after cases had increased rapidly in these two cities. Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders returning from Cheongdo and Daegu within the last 14 days would be issued a Stay-Home Notice (SHN) lasting 14 days.

North Korea quarantined 380 foreigners, enacted a mandatory 30 day quarantine for all foreigners coming from outside the country and cancelled the Pyongyang Marathon.

Due to the coronavirus situation in Japan, organisers of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards decided to hold the ceremony online instead.

In the United States, officials warned that community transmission of COVID-19 was expected, urging local governments, schools and businesses to develop plans to deal with potential outbreaks. In addition, disruptions to drug supplies could also be expected.

#### 26 February

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for sports and cultural events to be stopped for two weeks. This comes after Japan confirmed its second local death, amid concerns the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled. Hokkaido will close schools from 27 February to 4 March, while Tokyo allowed schools to start some classes later.

As of this date the 2020 Tokyo Olympics shall go ahead as planned, albeit with some adjustments. This comes as major sports are being cancelled (or played behind closed doors, such as with the Japan Davis Cup; the Japan Sumo Association is weighing whether to cancel a sold-out sumo tournament scheduled for March 8 in Osaka.

Toyota cancelled non-urgent trips for Japan workers as the coronavirus situation worsens. Its production schedule will remain unchanged.

Spain advised travellers to refrain from going to places like four Italian regions affected, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Singapore and China unless required. Measures will be put in place to slow the spread of the virus.

Thailand advised travellers to postpone trips to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Macau, Taiwan, Iran and some areas in South Korea and Japan. Healthcare workers are not allowed to travel to places affected by COVID-19 unless absolutely necessary, with these workers asked to self-quarantine and adopt enhanced hygiene measures for 14 days.

The World Health Organisation reported that the number of new cases outside China had exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time on 25 February, after a spike of cases in Italy, Iran and South Korea with cases in China dropping.

Ireland's Six Nations Championship match with Italy, which was supposed to be held on the weekend of 6 to 8 March, has been postponed due to the coronavirus, and may be cancelled. This comes after a meeting with health officials led by Simon Harris, the Health Minister.

#### 27 February

Saudi Arabia banned pilgrims and foreigners from entering the country due to the coronavirus.

Fiji extends travel ban with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announcing that travellers who had been in Italy, Iran and the South Korean cities of Daegu and Cheongdo will be denied entry into Fiji. He also added that thermal scanners will be installed at the country's port of entry. From 28 February, all cruise ships entering Fiji would be required to make first berths at ports in Suva and Lautoka, where passengers will undergo a medical and travel history checks.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requested all elementary, junior high, high and special needs schools to close from 2 March until spring break in a bid to stop the virus.

Following the confirmation of the 2nd and 3rd case in Greece, the Health Minister announced that all carnival celebrations in the country will be suspended.

Australia drew up a pandemic plan in preparation of a bigger spread. It also extended a travel ban on travellers coming from China until 7 March, the third time it has done so.

The World Health Organisation urged countries not to assume that they will be spared the coronavirus, pointing out that it would be a "fatal mistake" to do so. It also warned that the virus "has pandemic potential".

Iran cancelled Friday prayers in some cities. Iran has since banned travellers from China entering the country. A ban on conferences, cultural events and closure of cinemas was extended by another week.

Facebook cancelled the F8 developer conference, which was supposed to be held on 5-6 May.

British Airways cancels 56 flights to Italy between March 14 and March 26 due to the large amount of cancellations.

Taiwan raised its alert level to the highest after sporadic cases of transmission.

#### 28 February

In response to New Zealand's first reported case, the New Zealand Government temporarily banned travelers from Iran. The patient had reportedly returned from Iran to Auckland earlier in the week. While New Zealand citizens and permanent residents will be allowed to return, they must self-isolate for 14 days. In addition, the Health Minister David Clark confirmed that Chinese international students would not be allowed to re-enter the country and that there would be an increased health presence at airports.

Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea will close from 29 February to 15 March to limit the spread of the virus. Legoland Japan and Universal Studios Japan follow suit.

Malaysia banned all travellers arriving from South Korea with immediate effect. In addition, Malaysians, permanent residents, and long-term social visit pass and student pass holders returning from Daegu or Cheongdo in the last 14 days must undergo health screening, and separate immigration lanes for travellers from South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran will be set up.

South Korean band BTS cancelled their April 2020 *Map of the Soul Tour* scheduled to be held at the Seoul Olympic Stadium. The band's label Big Hit Entertainment released a statement that is "impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak" and that they "must take into consideration the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of guests as well as our artists."

According to BBC, internal sources in the Iranian health system stated that at least 210 COVID-19 patients have died in Iran.

Shopify cancelled the Shopify Unite Conference which supposed to be held on 6 to 8 May in Toronto.

The Geneva Motor Show scheduled to start on 5 March in Switzerland is cancelled. This comes after Switzerland banned public gatherings of more than 1,000 people to contain the virus.

In Russia, 88 foreigners in Moscow will be deported for breaking quarantine.

The Game Developers Conference, which was set to take place in March, has been postponed to an undisclosed date in the summer.

Japan's Hokkaido declared a state of emergency until 19 March as the number of cases continued to rise, with people asked to stay indoors.

The World Health Organisation raised the coronavirus alert to the highest level. This comes after more countries confirmed their first cases with the outbreak reaching sub-Saharan Africa.

A Hyundai factory in Ulsan shut down after a case was confirmed involving a worker there.

#### 29 February

Vietnamese authorities announced the visa-free policy for Korean citizens to be temporarily invalidated, starting 29 February. Also, medical quarantine was imposed for Korea-related passengers who arrive in Vietnam.

Azerbaijan shuts down its border with Iran.

The US-ASEAN Summit in Las Vegas on 14 March, between the U.S. President and ten leading representatives of Southeast Asian countries, was postponed.

An Iranian Member of Parliament, Mohammad Ali Ramazani, has died due to the coronavirus.

According to Portugal's General Directorate of Health, Graça Freitas, in the worst case scenario, Portugal may have one million infections (in a population of roughly more than ten million) over several months of outbreak, 12 to 14 weeks of intense contagion and around 20% severe cases of the total infected population. In this scenario the mortality rate may be around 2.3% to 2.4%. In the most probable scenario is it estimated that Portugal will have around twenty one thousand cases in the most severe week of the outbreak.

France temporarily banned gatherings of more than 5,000 people to contain the virus, coming after new cases are reported. As a result, the Paris half-marathon is cancelled, and the annual farm show will end today instead.