By: History.com Editors

2019

Wuhan government confirms dozens of cases of virus later ID’d as COVID-19

History.com Editors

Published: December 21, 2023

Last Updated: January 24, 2025

On New Year’s Eve 2019, China’s Wuhan government reports a cluster of cases of what it calls pneumonia. That virus causes an infectious disease later known as COVID-19, which quickly morphs into a global pandemic that causes nearly 7 million deaths.

History Shorts: How NYC Battled an Epidemic After World War I

After the Spanish Flu descended on New York City in 1918, its citizens did everything they could to flatten the curve.

The announcement came from the Wuhan Municipal Health Organization in China’s Hubei Province. Just a few days later, 44 Chinese citizens were reporting this “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” and of those, 11 had become seriously ill. National authorities reported that all patients were isolated and receiving treatment in Wuhan medical institutions. They had symptoms including fever, difficulty breathing and invasive lesions on their lungs.

The unidentified coronavirus spread explosively in China, and about three weeks after the initial announcement—on January 20, 2020—the Chinese government started to call the virus a Class B infectious disease, and officials implemented a level-one public-health emergency response. This coronavirus was labeled SARS-CoV-2, because it was genetically similar to the SARS virus that broke out in 2003. Five main mutations of SARS-CoV-2 emerged in the next few years: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron.

That December 31 is the first reported date on the World Health Organization’s earliest COVID-19 timeline. Nobody knew what was coming or how bad it would get, but by March 2020, the pandemic started wreaking devastation in the United States. Businesses and schools shut down around the country, people started wearing masks and practicing social distancing and fierce controversies erupted among citizens about public health measures. In the U.S., more than 103 million COVID-19 cases would be reported in the next three years, and about 1.14 million Americans would die from the pandemic.

Although many studies have been done to determine the origin of the virus—suspected to originate from animals at Wuhan’s “wet markets”—none has been conclusive.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on December 31st

1600

Charter granted to the East India Company

Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a formal charter to the London merchants trading to the East Indies, hoping to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade in what is now Indonesia.

1775

Patriots are defeated at Quebec

On December 31, 1775, Patriot forces under Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery attempt to capture the city of Quebec under cover of darkness and snowfall. They fail, and the effort costs Montgomery his life.

1862

U.S.S. Monitor sinks

On December 31, 1862, the U.S.S. Monitor sinks in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Just nine months earlier, the ship had been part of a revolution in naval warfare when the ironclad dueled to a standstill with the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimack) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, in one of the most famous naval battles in American history—the first time two ironclads faced each other in a naval engagement.

1879

Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent light

In the first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison lights up a street in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran special trains to Menlo Park on the day of the demonstration in response to public enthusiasm over the event.

1961

Kennedy and Khrushchev exchange holiday greetings

On December 31, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued a statement extending his “sincere wishes” and those of the American people to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the people of the Soviet Union for a peaceful and prosperous New Year. It was the height of the Cold War and the United States and Soviet Union were locked in a nuclear arms race.

1968

Soviets test supersonic airliner

The Soviet Union’s TU-144 supersonic airliner makes its first flight, several months ahead of the Anglo-French Concorde. The TU-144 so closely resembled the Concorde that the Western press dubbed it the “Konkordski.”

1972

Baseball star Roberto Clemente dies in plane crash

Roberto Clemente, future Hall of Fame baseball player, is killed along with four others when the cargo plane in which he is traveling crashes off the coast of Puerto Rico. Clemente was on his way to deliver relief supplies to Nicaragua following a devastating earthquake there a week earlier.

1984

Subway shooter Bernhard Goetz turns himself in

Bernhard Goetz, the white man who shot four young Black men on a New York City subway train, turns himself in at a police station in Concord, New Hampshire. Goetz claimed that the men were trying to rob him and that he had acted in self-defense. At the time, New York was in the midst of a crime wave and Goetz was viewed by some people as a hero, an ordinary citizen fighting back against his supposed attackers.

1985

Rick Nelson dies in a plane crash

Former teen idol Rick Nelson dies in a plane crash in De Kalb, Texas, on December 31, 1985.

1988

Chicago Bears beat Philadelphia Eagles in freaky Fog Bowl

On December 31, 1988, the Chicago Bears defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 20-12, in a playoff game plagued by a thick fog starting late in the first half. Playing conditions at Soldier Field in Chicago become problematic, and fans in attendance and television viewers struggle to see the game, dubbed the "Fog Bowl" by media.

1999

Putin becomes acting president of Russia, following Yeltsin’s resignation

On New Year’s Eve, 1999, Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian Federation, resigns after eight years in office. The presidency passes to the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, a former intelligence officer who will quickly become the central figure in Russian politics and play a major role in global affairs in the new century.

1999

Panama Canal turned over to Panama

On December 31, 1999, the United States, in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, officially hands over control of the Panama Canal, putting the strategic waterway into Panamanian hands for the first time. Crowds of Panamanians celebrated the transfer of the 50-mile canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and officially opened when the SS Arcon sailed through on August 15, 1914. Since then, over one million ships have used the canal.

Centennial Bridge Spanning the Panama Canal.

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Citation Information

Article title
Wuhan government confirms dozens of cases of virus later ID’d as COVID-19
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 23, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 24, 2025
Original Published Date
December 21, 2023

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