‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, part of the global COVID-19 pandemic, was the first identified outbreak of the pandemic, appearing as a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, China. A Wuhan hospital notified the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and health commissions on December 27, 2019. On December 31, Wuhan CDC admitted that there was a cluster of unknown pneumonia cases related to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market after the unverified documents appeared on the Internet. The outbreak soon drew nationwide attention, with the National Health Commission (NHC) in Beijing sending medical experts to Wuhan the next day. On January 8, a new coronavirus was identified as the cause of the pneumonia.[4] The sequence of the virus was soon published on an open-access database.[5] Measures taken by China have been controversial. They were praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for improvements over their response to SARS-CoV-2, but maligned by many in the international community for being deceptive or slow to publicly disclose key facts about the outbreak and for aggressively censoring information related to the outbreak and public discontent from citizens online.[6][7][8][9]
A delayed and controversial response by the Wuhan and Hubei authorities failed to contain the outbreak in the early stage, leading to criticism from the public and the media.[10] By January 29, the virus had spread to all provinces of mainland China.[11][12][13] By February 8, over 724 died from the coronavirus infection-associated pneumonia and 34,878 were confirmed to be infected. In Hubei alone, there were 24,953 cases of infections and 699 related deaths.[14] In response, all provinces of mainland China initiated their highest response level for the public health emergency.[15] On January 31, the WHO declared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern".[13]
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, warned about a "grave situation" facing China.[16][17] The Politburo of the Communist Party of China formed a special leading group for epidemic control led by PremierLi Keqiang. The Chinese New Year celebrations were cancelled. The passengers were checked for their temperatures.[18] Commands for epidemic control (CEC) were created in several regions including Wuhan and Hubei. Many inter-province bus services[19] and railway services were suspended.[20] By January 29, all Hubei cities were quarantined.[21] Curfew laws were implemented in Huanggang and Wenzhou,[22] and other mainland cities.[23] The region also saw a huge shortage of face masks and other protective gears despite being the world's manufacturing hub for those products.[24]
As reported cases increased, regional discrimination in China and abroad increased, despite many governments urging people not to do it.[25][26] Rumors circulated across Chinese social media along with counter-rumor efforts by media and governments.[27][28]
^ abc湖北疫情地图. feiyan.wecity.qq.com. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
^Yu, Xinyi (January 28, 2020). 【各地在行动②】全国19省份暂停省际长途客运. 人民网. Archived from the original on February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
^武汉肺炎:香港宣布大幅削减来往中国大陆交通服务 [Wuhan Pneumonia: Hong Kong Announces Significant Cuts in Transport Services to and from mainland China]. BBC News Chinese (in Simplified Chinese). January 28, 2020. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
^襄阳火车站关闭,湖北省最后一个地级市"封城". 国际金融报. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020 – via The Paper.
^Yang, Danxu (杨丹旭) (February 2, 2020). 中国确诊及死亡病例创单日新高 黄冈恐成"第二个武汉" [China's confirmed and death cases hit a single-day high, Huang Gang fears to be "second Wuhan"]. Zaobao (in Chinese (Singapore)). Archived from the original on February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
^温州之后,杭州台州宁波多地实施最严禁令. 川报观察 (in Simplified Chinese). February 3, 2020. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2020.