look back at the start of the pandemic in 10 key dates – L’Express

Five years ago today, on January 23, 2020, Wuhan was in lockdown. In L’Express, as in other French media, we were just starting to talk about a “mysterious epidemic of pneumonia”, which would spread to the rest of the world only a few weeks later. The year 2020 was largely marked by this news, and L’Express devoted numerous files and coverage to the Covid-19 pandemic. A look back, in 10 key dates, at the beginnings of the pandemic.

January 8, 2020: first mention in L’Express

A “mysterious epidemic of pneumonia” worries the Chinese authorities, reports L’Express on January 8, 2020. This is the first mention of Covid-19, which does not yet have the name (this will be the case from from February 11) in the magazine. “Concern is spreading across China after 59 people were infected with pneumonia of unknown origin,” we wrote, specifying that the cases were concentrated in the city of Wuhan, in central China.

“The investigation is still ongoing to determine the causes of transmission of this disease, which is not of human origin,” adds the article, which concludes by mentioning a concern that “spreads beyond” Wuhan , “since in Hong Kong, hospitals have 21 patients suffering from the same symptoms”.

January 23: Wuhan confined

After the closure of the Wuhan market on January 1, the entire city was confined for a period of seventy-six days. A decision taken by the Chinese authorities to stem the health crisis, accompanied by travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines. In Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, health authorities announced the death of a 61-year-old man following complications from pneumonia caused by a previously unknown virus. This is the first death officially attributed to Covid-19.

January 30: WHO declares a public health emergency

Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), declares that the epidemic constitutes “a public health emergency of international concern”. “Our biggest concern is the possibility that the virus will spread to countries with weaker health systems,” he says. WHO will declare that Covid-19 is now a pandemic a few weeks later, in March 2020.

February 25: start of the controversy over hydroxychloroquine

“CORONAVIRUS: end of the game!” In a tweet published on February 25, Professor Didier Raoult, then director of the IHU Méditerranée infection, asserts that hydroxychloroquine would be effective in the treatment of Covid-19. “His announcement nevertheless gave rise to some reservations in the scientific community, which calls for caution,” we wrote in L’Express. “A miracle cure? Not so sure,” our journalist Victor Garcia already points out.

The controversy surrounding Dr Didier Raoult and hydroxychloroquine will only grow in the following weeks. L’Express will echo the numerous criticisms aimed at the professor, explaining for example in March that he has “crystallized many hopes and divided a lot”. Retired since the summer of 2021 from his position as university professor-hospital practitioner, Didier Raoult was replaced a year later at the head of the IHU. He was banned from practicing medicine for two years in October 2024.

February 26: first French death attributed to Covid-19

The number of deaths and contaminations linked to Covid-19 are increasing around the world, particularly in Europe. In France, after the death of an 80-year-old Chinese tourist, a second coronavirus patient, a 60-year-old teacher, died in hospital.

March 12: France goes into lockdown

In France, the situation is out of control. Emmanuel Macron announces strong measures to deal with the spread of the epidemic, which has so far caused 2,281 cases, including 48 deaths. To respond to the health crisis, the government is implementing containment measures. Schools are closed until further notice and the Head of State calls on “all French people” to limit their travel “to what is strictly necessary”, favoring teleworking.

October: the origin of the virus in question

Since the start of the pandemic, researchers have been investigating the origins of Covid-19. Two main theories oppose each other: that of an accidental leak from a laboratory and that of a zoonotic transfer. “Studying the origin of Sars-CoV-2 is a scientific approach which cannot be assimilated to a conspiracy thesis”, recalls virologist Etienne Decroly in an interview for the CNRS journal published in October 2020. Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, belongs to a family of viruses which circulate in particular in bats. The Wuhan market, where live wild animals, potential transmitters of Covid-19, were sold, was considered the first source of the epidemic. For this reason, the Chinese authorities decided to close it on January 1, 2020.

Five years after the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, the mystery persists about the origins of the virus. Beyond the two main theories on the origin of the virus, other gray areas remain around the attitude of the Chinese government. Its refusal to share data from the first patients, its way of obstructing international investigations or even the arrest of certain dissenting voices… China is the target of numerous accusations.

October 30: start of the second confinement in France

In a speech to the French on October 28, 2020, Emmanuel Macron announced a new period of confinement, which will come into force from October 30 to December 1. France is trying to stem this second wave “which will undoubtedly be harsher and more deadly than the first”, fears Emmanuel Macron.

According to a 2021 publication from INSEEthe first wave of Covid-19 caused 20,000 deaths between March and July 2020, and the second, between July 2020 and January 2021, caused 25,000.

December 20: identification of a new variant

The B.117 variant is identified in the United Kingdom and appears to be 50% more transmissible than other versions of the virus, mainly affecting children. It will be renamed the Alpha variant. Subsequently, other variants of Covid-19 will follow: the Beta, Gamma and Delta variants which will be considered as variant of concern“variants of concern” in French, the highest level of the WHO classification.

December 21: the beginnings of vaccination

The European Medicines Agency authorizes the Covid vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech. A symbolic vaccination campaign is launched simultaneously in most member states of the European Union from December 27. The first vaccination against the coronavirus takes place in France in a unit of the René-Muret hospital in Sevran, located in Seine-Saint-Denis. Mauricette, a 78-year-old patient, receives the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. As of January 1, 2023, more than 54.2 million people had received at least one dose of vaccine in France, according to Health Insurance.