It is swift and deadly – like nothing in living memory. On January 23 the number of cases across the world crept to 581 and at least 17 people had died. Within a few weeks, the virus makes it to Hong Kong and Macau, Singapore and Vietnam. Photo: GettyĪt home, Australia starts to ramp up its airport screening of passengers coming from China.Ĭases continue to climb at alarming rates. Medical teams disinfect a hospital in Wuhan. The World Health Organisation calls for countries to get prepared: “The possibility of cases being identified in other countries was not unexpected, and reinforces why WHO calls for ongoing active monitoring and preparedness in other countries.”ĬOVID-19 has already broken out across China and in the coming days, it hits Japan, South Korean and the US. In just under 12 months the toll would surpass 1.78 million worldwide.īy January 13 the outbreak crosses international borders for the first time with a case confirmed in Thailand. On January 9 the first death to the new novel virus was recorded – a 61-year-old man from Wuhan. We’ve grieved loved ones, lost jobs, missed friends. Twelve months later and the pandemic has changed the way we live. “Don’t circulate the information outside of this group, tell your family and loved ones to take precautions,” he wrote.įour days later he was contacted by police, who ordered him to stop “making false comments”. One doctor, Li Wenliang, had already been silenced by local police after he shared a patient’s report with a small number of medical professionals in a WeChat group – the word SARS had been circled by a senior doctor.ĭr Li Wenliang was an early whistleblower Throughout December, cases of the virus had appeared in hospitals in Hubei province, alarming a small number of medical professionals.Ĭhinese authorities tried to keep a lid on it. In reality, the entire place was being disinfected after dozens of cases of a highly contagious SARS-like phenomena had been linked to the market, which sold exotic and illegal animals such as wolf cubs and civets. State-run Xinhua News Agency reported that it was being closed for renovations. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market is closed and disinfected. In Wuhan, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was being quickly and quietly shut down by Chinese authorities. PM Scott Morrison, infamous for holding up a piece of coal in parliament, was still reeling in the polls from his Hawaiian Holiday.īut just over 8100kms from Canberra something small, and at the time seemingly insignificant, was happening that would change everything as we know it.
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