Before the World Health Organization had coined the term Covid-19, it was the "Wuhan virus", a mysterious pathogen from a city that few people outside China had visited. On 12 January 2020, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the virus's genome on an international database, permitting scientists anywhere in the world to see that it was a coronavirus closely related to Sars - the pathogen that had caused a mini-pandemic in 2002-2004.
On 20 January, Dr Zhong Nanshan - the first person in China to have spoken out in 2003 about the threat posed by Sars - broke the news that the Wuhan virus - or Sars-CoV-2 as it was now known - was "certainly transmissible from human to human".
Three days later, China's president, Xi Jinping, instructed officials to lock down the city of 11 million people. The problem was clinicians had been warning of a new Sars-like illness since 27 December 2019 and by late January cases had already appeared in Thailand, Japan and Korea.
This story is from the May 31, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 31, 2024 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Dangerous Alliance Putin And Kim Are The Odd Couple With A Dual Mission
They make an odd couple. One is smiley-faced and chubby. The other is thin-lipped and scowls a lot.
Evangelicals On Crusade To Return Trump To Presidency
God's army is on the march. And many of its foot soldiers are wearing Make America Great Again regalia, sensing that their unlikely standard-bearer, former US president Donald Trump, is once again close to the promised land.
Friends Reunited What Can Russia And North Korea Do For Each Other?
China accounts for more than 90% of North Korea's trade and has been its most dependable aid donor and diplomatic ally.
Tensions Rise On Border As War Looms
Doctors prepare for casualties, people flee their homes and apprehension hangs in the air as threat grows of conflict with Hezbollah
The Prosecution Of Roy Is A Stark Warning From Modi To His Critics Salil Tripathi
This month, the highest ranking bureaucrat of the state of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena, permitted the Delhi police to prosecute Arundhati Roy (pictured), and Sheikh Showkat Hussain for remarks they made at a public event 14 years ago.
Heads up Road deaths prompt a rethink over bike helmets
When 42-year-old Myrthe Boss gets on her bike to go shopping in the Dutch town of Ede, she pops on a helmet.
How Easter Island is swamped by deluge of plastic
Ocean currents are dumping tides of multinational rubbish on to the shores of one of the world's most remote habitats
Bold ideas for a well-dressed salad - and without the need for oil
It's hard to deny the transformative power of a good salad dressing, but you don't need much oil, if any. Honey, for example, will give \"a natural stickiness that helps adhesion to your salad, while the sweetness balances the acidity of vinegar\", says Tony Rodd, head chef at Pomus in Margate
The German theatre that puts climate centre stage
As part of a wider project to reduce its carbon footprint, a Potsdam theatre is reusing props, recycling costumes and doubling up tickets as transport passes
Out of the shadows
Anthony McCall made his name with 'light sculptures' that people could enter. But a show in Sweden led to 20 years in the wilderness
