COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic
	Medical professionals treating a COVID-19 patient in critical condition in an intensive care unit in São Paulo in May 2020
	Confirmed deaths per 100,000 population; as of 20 December 2023
Cases per capita
	Cumulative percentage of population infected; as of 19 March 2022 >10%; 3–10%; 1–3%; 0.3–1%; 0.1–0.3%; 0.03–0.1%; 0–0.03%; None or no data;
Disease	Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Virus strain	Severe acute respiratory syndrome; coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2)
Source	Bats (indirectly)
Location	Worldwide
Index case	Wuhan, China; 30°37′11″N 114°15′28″E / 30.61972°N 114.25778°E; 1 December 2019; (6 years, 3 months, 2 weeks and 4 days ago)
Dates	Described as a pandemic by the WHO: 11 March 2020 (6 years ago) Public health emergency of international concern: 30 January 2020 – 5 May 2023 (3 years, 3 months and 5 days)
Confirmed cases	779,056,637
Suspected cases‡	Far higher (>70% of the world population, by the end of 2022)
Deaths	7,111,504 (reported) ; 18.2–33.5 million (estimated)
Fatality rate	As of 10 March 2023: 1.02%
	‡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 global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other parts of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, and assessed it as having become a pandemic on 11 March. The WHO declared the public health emergency caused by COVID-19 had ended in May 2023.

COVID-19 symptoms range from asymptomatic to deadly, but most commonly include fever, sore throat, nocturnal cough, and fatigue. Transmission of the virus is often through airborne particles. Mutations have produced many strains (variants) with varying degrees of infectivity and virulence. COVID-19 vaccines were developed rapidly and deployed to the general public beginning in December 2020, made available through government and international programmes such as COVAX, aiming to provide vaccine equity. Treatments include novel antiviral drugs and symptom control. Common mitigation measures during the public health emergency included travel restrictions, lockdowns, business restrictions and closures, workplace hazard controls, mask mandates, quarantines, testing systems, and contact tracing of the infected.

The pandemic caused severe social and economic disruption around the world, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. Widespread supply shortages, including food shortages, were caused by supply chain disruptions and panic buying. Reduced human activity led to an unprecedented temporary decrease in pollution. Educational institutions and public areas were partially or fully closed in many jurisdictions, and many events were cancelled or postponed during 2020 and 2021. Telework became much more common for white-collar workers as the pandemic evolved. Misinformation circulated through social media and occasionally through mass media, and political tensions intensified. The pandemic raised issues of racial and geographic discrimination, health equity, and the balance between public health imperatives and individual rights.

The disease has continued to circulate since 2023. By 2025, experts generally believed the pandemic to be over, having transitioned into the endemic phase. Different definitions of pandemics lead to different determinations of when they end. As of 12 March 2026, COVID-19 has caused 7,111,504 confirmed deaths, and 18.2 to 33.5 million estimated deaths. The pandemic was the fifth-deadliest pandemic or epidemic in history.