Key figures of coronavirus COVID-19 in Greater China 2022

The novel coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city Wuhan - the capital of Hubei province - had killed 17,826 people in Greater China. As of June 7, 2022, there were 2,785,848 active cases with symptoms in the region.

How did it spread?

In late December 2019, the health authorities in Wuhan detected several pneumonia cases of unknown cause. Most of these patients had links to the Huanan seafood market. The virus then spread spread rapidly to other provinces when millions of Chinese migrant workers headed home for Chinese New Year celebrations. About five billion people left Wuhan before the start of the travel ban on January 23. Right before Chinese New Year, the central government decided to put Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province on lockdown. With further travel restrictions and cancellations of public celebration events, the number of infections surpassed 80 thousand by the end of February. On March 18, 2020, China reported no new local coronavirus COVID-19 transmissions for the first time after quarantine measures had been implemented. On March 31, 2020, the National Health Commission (NHC) in China announced that it would begin reporting the infection number of symptom-free individuals who tested positive for coronavirus. After no new deaths reported for first time, the Chinese government lifted ten-week lockdown on Wuhan on April 8, 2020. Daily life was returning slowly back to normal in the country.

What is COVID-19?

Coronaviruses originate in animals like camels, civets and bats and are usually not transmissible to humans. But when a coronavirus mutates, it can be passed from animals to humans. The new strain of coronavirus COVID-19 is one of the seven known coronaviruses that can infect humans causing fever and respiratory infections. China's National Health Commission has confirmed the virus can be transmitted between humans through direct contact, airborne droplets. Faecal-oral transmission could also be possible. Although the death toll of COVID-19 has surpassed that of SARS, its fatality rate is relatively low compared to other deadly coronavirus, such as SARS and MERS.