The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global outbreak of coronavirus, an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Cases of novel coronavirus (nCoV) were first detected in China in December 2019, with the virus spreading rapidly to other countries across the world. This led WHO to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and to characterise the outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

Source: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, WHO