Two years of COVID-19 pandemic: where are we now?

Unprecedented. This is the closest and most appropriate word to describe the COVID-19 pandemic, which the world has been experiencing with pain and fear. The first case of pneumonia-like symptoms of unknown etiology appeared presumably in November 2019, with the subsequent official report to the WHO by the Chinese authorities on December 31, 2019. China’s first confirmed death from the virus occurred on January 11, 2020, when a 61-year-old male resident of Hubei, the capital of Wuhan Province, died. Within a month, the COVID-19 death toll surpassed 1,000 (February 10, 2020). Accordingly, just 30 days after the initial report, the coronavirus outbreak was called a “public health emergency of international concern” by the WHO, the organization’s highest alert level. Unfortunately, the WHO soon declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic (March 11, 2020). Within a year of viral emergence, and by December 2020, more than 80 million confirmed cases had been reported worldwide. Infections increased exponentially over the following year. As of February 11, 2022, over 400 million cases have been reported, with nearly 6 million deaths, an unprecedented rate of spread across borders.