On January 5, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) made the official announcement of a disease outbreak of “Pneumonia of unknown cause” in China. Which alterted member states [1, 2, 3]
In a WHO tweet on January 4, 2020 they made an early announcment, then their website on January 5, 2020 they stated:
On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. As of 3 January 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. Of the 44 cases reported, 11 are severely ill, while the remaining 33 patients are in stable condition. According to media reports, the concerned market in Wuhan was closed on 1 January 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection.
The causal agent has not yet been identified or confirmed. On 1 January 2020, WHO requested further information from national authorities to assess the risk….The clinical signs and symptoms are mainly fever, with a few patients having difficulty in breathing, and chest radiographs showing invasive lesions of both lungs.
According to the authorities, some patients were operating dealers or vendors in the Huanan Seafood market. Based on the preliminary information from the Chinese investigation team, no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reported.
Further details were announced on Jan 11, 2020.
China had been investigating since December 27, 2019 when they first became aware of the unknown pneumonia.
By January 14, 2022 the WHO reported “Thailand (ex-China)” had received the first “imported case” in a 61-year-old Chinese woman who was living in Wuhan City.