HISTORY

Covid-19

Historical overview of COVID-19
How and why did we get to this pandemic?

Summary
At the end of 2019 in December, Wuhan, China became the epicenter of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology that did not yield to currently used treatments. In a few days, the infections increased exponentially, not only in Mainland China but also in different countries. The causative agent was identified, a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) later classified as SARS-CoV2 causing COVID-19 disease. On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declares this disease as a pandemic. The purpose of this review is to expose the causes and origin of this pandemic, as well as the possible measures to contain it.

During December 18 and December 29, 2019, the first five cases were reported, of which four of these patients were hospitalized for presenting acute respiratory distress syndrome and one of these patients died.6,7 Most of the Patients claimed to have a direct or indirect relationship with a food market in Hubei province in Wuhan.2,3 As of January 1 of this year, the Wuhan market had been closed and there was no clear evidence of person-to-person transmission. .8 On January 2, a total of 41 patients had been hospitalized and only one patient with serious pre-existing conditions had died. On January 7, Chinese authorities announced that they had identified a new type of coronavirus (Nuevo Coronavirus, 2019-nCoV). Simultaneously, other possible pathogens were ruled out, including the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the influenza virus, the avian influenza virus and the Adenoviruses.8,9 From this moment on, the authorities worldwide knew that they faced a new threat1-8.

As of January 12, 2020, no further related cases had been reported and it was assumed that the propagation center had been the market already closed, or that they had possibly been infected in the hospital (nosocomial infection). The disease was named COVID-19, caused by 2019-nCoV, and was mistakenly thought to be not highly contagious as there was no record of person-to-person infection. Concluding that transmission was by unknown routes during the hospital stay. At this time, only those with symptoms had been tested.8,9 Just ten days later, a total of 571 cases had been reported in 25 different provinces across China, while in Hubei province, deaths had reached 17, and 95 patients remained in critical condition. An estimate was made according to the Model of Infectious Diseases of the WHO Collaboration Center and the projection reached 4,000 possible infected, reaching almost 10,000