The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has sent shockwaves to people globally. Healthcare systems are failing, economies have hit-rock bottom and thousands of people have already succumbed to the disease.
The global outbreak started with a few reported cases of a disease that resembled the characteristics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), with the earliest case being reported in November of 2019. However, the World Health Organization was only alerted on December 31, 2019 when the few cases have already evolved into a full-fledged outbreak.
From Wuhan, the virus moved across oceans and continents until it became a worldwide pandemic. But looking back, how did it really start?
The Beginning
Several speculations say that the virus which invaded the world first emerged in Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, where majority of the first cases were linked. Twenty-eight out of the first 41 victims were found to have had direct contact to the market.
These people who initially felt under the weather and some even brushed it off for the common flu could have never known that they were among the first cases of the new and highly contagious strain of coronavirus. No one knew that this would later cause the death of at least 2,500 people in their city and engulf the whole world by infecting more than 1.8 million and kill more than 115,000 people. Never would they have known that what they thought was a simple cold would turn out into what the WHO described as the worst global crisis since the Second World War.
However, experts say that this could have been avoided if only the Chinese government had been transparent and did not wait until late in January to reveal that the virus can be transmitted from human to human.
Slipping out of control
By the time that the truth about the outbreak came out, everything was spiraling out of control. Hospitals in the city were overwhelmed with cases that grew day by day. Footage from Wuhan No. 6 hospital in Wuchang district showed crowds of patients by January 22.
Another footage of a patient who was uncontrollably shaking on a hospital bed also went viral, the writhing and seizures purported to have been effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The video was widely shared, however, it was never verified if it was indeed factual since the people who were holding the patient down were not equipped with the usual protective equipment worn by doctors tending to COVID-19 patients.
By the January 23, the city of Wuhan which has been considered as the ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic was placed under lockdown with the 11 million people inside the city not allowed to leave. Soon after, areas surrounding the city followed suit and placed more than 50 million people under home quarantine which would last for months.
Waking up from the nightmare
Almost four months after the first cases were reported in Wuhan, the city is coming back to life. People are starting to go back to work and fill the streets again. However, remnants of the epidemic which killed its people remain.
While Wuhan is already waking up from what seemed like a bad dream, other countries in the world are still struggling to combat the disease and end this nightmare.
