5 lakh deaths and counting, how coronavirus pandemic unfolded

Global infections from the novel coronavirus passed 10 million Sunday, an AFP tally showed. One million new infections were recorded in just six days, according to the count based on official sources, even as countries were loosening punishing lockdowns that have devastated their economies and thrown millions out of work. The worldwide death toll from the disease that first emerged in China six months ago is also nearing 500,000 as fears grow of a full-blown second wave. The rate of contagion has doubled since May 21.

December 31, 2019: China alerts the World Health Organization of 27 cases of

January 11, 2020: A 61-year-old man is reported as the first death. Preliminary lab tests cited by Chinese state media point to a new type of coronavirus. Credit: AFP Photo

January 13: A Chinese woman is quarantined in Thailand, the first detection of the virus outside China. Credit: iStock Photo

January 15: Japan confirms its first case. Credit: Reuters

January 20: South Korea confirms its first case. Credit: Reuters

January 22: The WHO convenes an emergency meeting with health authorities around the world. Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the new coronavirus does not yet constitute an international emergency. Credit: Reuters

January 23: China issues a lockdown for millions of people in Wuhan and Hubei as the death toll rises to 18. Credit: AFP Photo

January 24: The first cases in Europe are reported in France. Credit: iStock Photo

January 25: China bans wildlife trade after the virus was traced to a Wuhan animal market. The Lunar New Year holiday is extended for workers and schools. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announces measures to limit links with China. Credit: AFP Photo

January 27: The United States warns against travel to China, a day after five people who had been in Wuhan become the first confirmed cases in America. Credit: Reuters

January 30: The WHO declares the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Credit: iStock Photo

February 1: The United States, Singapore, Russia and Australia ban foreign travellers who were recently in China. Credit: AFP Photo

February 2: A 44-year-old man dies in the Philippines, the first death outside China. Credit: PTI Photo

February 3: Investors erase $393 billion from China's benchmark stock index, selling the yuan and dumping commodities on the first day of trade after the Lunar New Year break. Credit: Reuters

February 5: About 3,700 passengers are quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess, a Carnival Corp cruise liner, off the coast of Japan after 10 people test positive. More than 700 passengers eventually test positive and 14 die. The ship is quarantined for nearly a month. Credit: Reuters

February 7: Li Wenliang, a Chinese ophthalmologist who had been reprimanded for issuing an early warning about the Wuhan outbreak, dies, triggering wide public mourning and rare expressions of anger against the government. Credit: AP Photo

February 7: Hong Kong supermarket shelves are stripped bare as residents hoard toilet paper and other supplies. Credit: AFP Photo

February 11: The Chinese government's senior medical adviser tells Reuters the outbreak may be over by April. Credit: Reuters

February 12: An Iranian woman dies of a suspected coronavirus infection, according to the state daily newspaper IRAN, the first in the Islamic Republic. Credit: Reuters

February 15: An elderly Chinese tourist hospitalised in France is the first fatality reported in Europe. Credit: Reuters

February 19: A spike in infections in South Korea linked to a church congregation is declared a

February 22: Italy seals off its hard-hit northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto. Credit: Reuters

February 24: Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq record their first cases, all people who had been in Iran. The WHO says the outbreak can still be beaten, insisting it is premature to declare Covid-19 a pandemic. Credit: iStock Photo

February 25: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns Americans to begin preparing for the virus to spread, signalling a change in tone. Austria, Switzerland and Croatia report their first cases. Credit: Reuters

February 26: The number of new infections inside China is overtaken by those elsewhere for the first time. Italy and Iran emerge as new epicentres. Credit: AFP Photo

February 28: The S&P 500 suffers its biggest weekly drop since the 2008 financial crisis on fears of a global recession. More than $5 trillion is wiped from global market value. Credit: AFP Photo

March 1: A nursing home near Seattle is locked down after two deaths are reported in Washington state, thought to be the first in the United States at the time. Credit: AFP Photo

March 2: The new coronavirus appears to be spreading much more rapidly outside China than inside, but it can still be contained, says the WHO chief, Tedros. Credit: AFP Photo

March 3: In a surprise move, the US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by half a percentage point to try to stem the economic fallout from the epidemic. Markets continue to fall. Credit: iStock

March 4: A pet dog is quarantined in Hong Kong, the first suspected case of human-to-animal transmission. Credit: Pixabay

March 5: California declares a state of emergency. Friday prayers are cancelled in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala after Iraq's first death in Baghdad. Credit: AFP Photo

March 6: The number of infected people exceeds 100,000 globally. Deaths top 3,400. Credit: iStock

March 9: Crude prices plunge 25%, the biggest daily rout since the 1991 Gulf War, as Saudi Arabia and Russia begin a price war. Moscow refuses a deeper oil cut by OPEC+ to cope with tumbling demand. Credit: AFP Photo

March 10:

March 11: The Bank of England slashes interest rates by half a percentage point. The British government unveils a budget splurge designed to stave off a recession. Credit: iStock Photo

March 12: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 48, goes into quarantine for two weeks after his wife, Sophie, tests positive. Credit: Reuters

March 13: US President Donald Trump declares a national emergency to free up $50 billion in federal aid. Credit: AFP Photo

March 14: France and Spain join Italy in imposing lockdowns on tens of millions of people, Australia orders foreign travelers to self-isolate, and other countries extend entry bans to try to stop the spreading virus. Credit: AFP Photo

March 15: New York and Los Angeles, the two largest US cities, order restaurants, bars, theaters and movie houses to close. The Fed cuts interest rates again. Credit: AFP Photo

March 17: Trump proposes to help Americans by mailing checks of up to $1,000 each. Brazil reports its first death. The European Union bars outside travellers. Credit: Reuters

March 19: Italy's death toll overtakes China. Russia records its first death. The virus has spread to more than 170 countries.

March 24: The International Olympic Committee and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announce the postponement of the 2020 Summer Games. India goes under lockdown. Credit: AFP Photo

March 25: A $2 trillion coronavirus aid package, dubbed

March 27: South Africa starts nationwide lockdown. Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries try to ring-fence cities. Credit: Reuters

April 2: Global cases shoot past 1 million as deaths soar in the United States and western Europe. Credit: Reuters

April 5: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 55, is admitted to hospital with coronavirus after suffering a fever and a cough for more than 10 days. He remains in hospital until April 12. Credit: AFP Photo

April 7: Early data shows Covid-19 is killing African Americans at a higher rate than the general US population, underscoring disparities in healthcare access. Credit: AFP Photo

April 8: Wuhan reopens. Its 11 million citizens can leave their homes for the first time in months. Credit: AFP Photo

April 10: Global deaths reaches 100,000 and confirmed cases exceed 1.6 million. Credit: Reuters

April 14: Trump halts funding to the WHO over its handling of the pandemic, drawing condemnation from infectious disease experts.

April 23: Trump says scientists should explore whether injecting disinfectant might help Covid-19 patients, horrifying medical professionals who worry that some people will poison themselves with bleach. Credit: Reuters

April 25: Global deaths exceed 200,000 and confirmed cases near 3 million. Credit: iStock Photo

May 8: The US economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April, the steepest plunge since the Great Depression. The unemployment rate surges to 14.7%. Credit: DH File Photo

May 9: Avianca Holdings, Latin America's second-largest airline, files for bankruptcy. It would be followed by LATAM Airlines Group, the continent's largest carrier, on May 26.

May 13: The virus could become endemic like HIV and never go away, the World Health Organization says. Credit: iStock

May 14: The United Nations warns of a looming mental illness crisis as millions of people are surrounded by death and disease and forced into isolation, poverty and anxiety. Credit: Reuters

May 15: Global deaths exceed 300,000 and confirmed cases approach 4.5 million. Credit: iStock Photo

May 18: Trump says he is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medicine despite medical warnings against the use of the malaria drug. Subsequent studies, including a large multi-country trial by the WHO, would find little benefit in Covid-19 patients treated with the drug. Credit: AFP Photo

May 24: Hong Kong police fire tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of people protesting against China's plan to impose national security laws on the city, in defiance of curbs imposed to contain the coronavirus. The public returns to St Peter's Square to receive Pope Francis's blessing from his window for the first time in nearly three months.

May 25: George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, dies after a police officer kneels on his neck for nearly 9 minutes. The incident triggers weeks of protests against racism and police brutality around the world, and health experts warn the activity may help spread the virus. Brazil surpasses the United States in daily coronavirus deaths. Credit: Reuters

May 29: Trump says he is terminating the US relationship with the WHO over its handling of the outbreak, accusing the UN agency of becoming a puppet organisation of China. Credit: AFP Photo

June 7: Global deaths exceed 400,000 and confirmed cases approach 7 million. Credit: Reuters

June 8: New Zealand lifts all social and economic restrictions except border controls, one of the first countries to return to pre-pandemic normality. Credit: Reuters

June 12: Beijing shuts six major wholesale food markets and delays plans for some students to return to school after reporting new infections for a second day running. Credit: Reuters

June 15: After 83 days of lockdown, England allows retail stores to reopen.

June 16: Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez says he has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, as has his wife and two aides.

June 19: Brazil cases top 1 million and deaths approach 50,000, a new nadir for the world's second worst-hit country.

June 23: After more than 100 days of lockdown, New York City residents can get haircuts, shop at reopened stores and dine at outdoor cafes. Russia has 599,705 cases, the third-highest in the world. Credit: Reuters

June 25: Nigeria's outbreak may push 5 million people into poverty as it triggers the worst recession in the African powerhouse since the 1980s, the World Bank said. Credit: Reuters

June 26: Amid a spike in infections, Texas and Florida halt efforts to reopen their economies, ordering bars to close again and tightening restrictions on restaurants. Credit: Reuters

June 28: Global deaths exceed 500,000 and confirmed cases top 10 million. Credit: Reuters