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It was December 31, 2019, when Chinese health authorities spoke of an outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan, which was later found to be caused by the SarsCov2 coronavirus. Since then, life around the world has changed dramatically with the pandemic and lockdowns. One year, 2020, which saw the explosion of more than 200,000 scientific studies published on this new disease, called Covid-19, but also a pandemic of misinformation, accompanied by political anger and confusion, as pointed out by the journal Science, which tracks the stages of these 12 months.
JANUARY – It turns out that the cause of the mysterious pneumonia is a new coronavirus, the genetic sequence of which is published on January 10, and which later turns out to be 96.2% similar to a bat coronavirus on January 26. The transmission of the new virus from human to human is confirmed and on January 23 in Wuhan the closure is triggered, while on January 30 the World Health Organization (WHO) declares the epidemic an international public health emergency.
FEBRUARY – The Diamond Princess cruise ship begins a 2-week quarantine and it turns out that the risk factors for serious forms of Covid are male gender, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes. On February 19, researchers looked at the structure of the virus and its peak protein, and on February 21 in Italy, patient 1 was identified in Codogno.
MARCH – On March 11, the WHO declares the pandemic. Imperial College London predicts that healthcare systems will collapse when New York becomes the epicenter of the American epidemic. It is confirmed that the virus can be transmitted by air, while the US agency for drug control, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine and Moderna begins work on a vaccine.
APRIL – Covid-19 turns out to damage the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and brain. In the United States, the health authorities invite you to wear cloth masks and we have the first data on the protective effect of the anti-Covid vaccine in monkeys. Asymptomatic patients have been found to play an important role in infections and remdesivir reduces hospitalization days in critically ill patients
MAY – The US authorizes the emergency use of remdesivir and Operation Warp Speed is launched, a public-private partnership launched by the United States to facilitate and accelerate the development, production and distribution of vaccines and therapies
JUNE – Several journals, such as the Lancet and New England Journal, withdraw some published studies because they contain false data. It is seen that hydroxychloroquine does not reduce deaths in hospitalized patients and on June 15 the United States revokes the emergency use of this drug. On the other hand, desomethasone reduces deaths in hospitalized patients by a third.
JULY – The US communicates its intention to leave the WHO and there are the first studies showing the long-term effects of Covid
AUGUST – there is the first confirmed case of reinfection by Covid. Doctors and researchers start to be viewed as enemies, conspiracy theories flourish, and deniers rise
SEPTEMBER – Two thirds of countries, including the EU, join Covax, the WHO’s program for global access to anti-Covid vaccines. It turns out that up to 14% of severe forms of Covid are related to genetic factors
OCTOBER – Europe and the United States begin to face the second wave of the pandemic
NOVEMBER – The companies Pfizer-Biontech and Moderna publish data on the effectiveness of their vaccines, which reaches 95%
DECEMBER – on day 2, the UK is the first country to authorize the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine. Followed by the US and then 21 by the EU, where vaccinations begin on December 27.
