This article documents the chronology of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, which originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect. Reporting on this outbreak (later pandemic when it was upgraded on 11 March 2020) began in December 2019.
Reactions and measures in mainland China
2 March Wuhan closed its first makeshift hospital, one of the 16 built to contain the epidemic after the last person was discharged. This came as the number of new cases declined.
3 March
Shanghai and Guangdong province will quarantine travellers arriving from coronavirus-hit countries for 14 days.
7 March The Xinjia Express Hotel in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China collapsed while containing dozens of close contacts of people with coronavirus. 29 people died as a result.
9 March 11 out of 16 makeshift hospitals set up in Wuhan were closed after discharging their last person, with the most recent being a converted sports centre and a factory. This comes as the number of cases continued to drop.
10 March Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping visits Wuhan and issues a statement claiming that COVID-19 has been eradicated in Wuhan and Hubei province.
China has developed a robot for throat swabbing to diagnose cases, helping to reduce risks for workers.
11 March Hubei's provincial government announces that businesses related to epidemic control, public utilities and daily necessities are allowed to resume work now. Other businesses will be allowed to resume work on 20 March.
Beijing orders everyone arriving in the city from any country, including those from countries not affected by COVID-19, to undergo home quarantine for 14 days. Those arriving for business trips are to stay in hotels and test for the virus.
12 March Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian alleges that the US military had brought the virus to Wuhan in a controversial Tweet.
Hubei will allow industrial production to resume in some areas, as well as lift some travel restrictions.
14 March In response to a rise in imported cases, Beijing authorities announced that everyone arriving from overseas will be quarantined for 14 days.
16 March The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics releases figures showing that industrial output fell 13.5%, fixed asset investment fell 24.5%, private sector investment fell 26.4%, and retail sales shrank 20.5% in January–February 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
22 March In response to a rise in imported cases, the Civil Aviation Administration of China decided to divert international flights bound for Beijing to 12 designated airports for quarantine.
23 March
Wuhan eases its two-month lockdown on residents including allowing those from compounds deemed virus-free to leave their homes and return to work, if they did not have a temperature and could provide a green code of health. Non-residents were allowed to apply to leave the city. Resumption of train services.
24 March Chinese premier Li Keqiang reports that the spread of domestically transmitted cases has been basically blocked and the outbreak has been controlled in China.
25 March Hubei's Health Commission eliminates all travel restrictions in and out of the province with the exception of Wuhan.
27 March In response to a rise in imported cases, the Chinese Government announces that it will close China's borders to foreigners starting on 28 March in an effort to stop imported cases of the coronavirus from entering China. The ban also includes foreigners with visas and residency permits. Other measures include restricting both Chinese and foreign airlines to a single route and destination a week.
28 March Clashes break out on a bridge connecting Hubei and the neighboring Jiangxi province when Hubei travelers attempted to storm a Jiangxi checkpoint. This clash was the result of a disagreement between police from both provinces over how to verify people from Hubei allowed to enter Jiangxi. In response, provincial authorities have announced that checkpoints will be removed and no special documentation would be needed to cross.
29 March According to a Guardian report, Western and African expatriates have encountered increased racial hostility and discrimination in response to a shift in recent cases reported in China from local to "imported" ones. Hostility towards foreigners have taken the form of being denied entry to restaurants, shops, gyms, and hotels, being subjected to further screening, and verbal abuse and ostracism.
30 March
Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announces that the Government will introduce measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reactions and measures outside mainland China
By 31 March 2020, the virus had spread to much of the globe, and there were at least 730,000 cases confirmed with more than 36,000 deaths. Only the following countries and territories had not reported any cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections:
Africa
Ascension Island Comoros Lesotho Malawi Sahrawi Republic Saint Helena São Tomé and Príncipe Somaliland South Sudan Tristan da Cunha
Asia
Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands North Korea Tajikistan Turkmenistan Yemen
Europe
Abkhazia Artsakh South Ossetia Svalbard
North America and the Caribbean
Bonaire Saba Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Oceania
American Samoa Cook Islands Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru Niue Norfolk Island Palau Pitcairn Islands Samoa Solomon Islands Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Wallis and Futuna
South America Falkland Islands
Strict surveillance measures are being enforced at airports, seaports and border crossings to prevent the disease wide-spreading into countries/territories which either share a border with or are located in the neighborhood of Mainland China. Accordingly, some countries are thermally monitoring passengers arriving at their major international airports, while flights to and from infected countries have ceased operating. More seriously, countries such as North Korea and Papua New Guinea have banned travelers from all Asian countries.
Land and sea borders are being closed over the fears of the virus. For example, Hong Kong, Mongolia, North Korea, and Russia have closed their borders with Mainland China, while Papua New Guinea closed its land border with Indonesia. Singapore has closed its borders to all recent travelers of China.
Visas have also been suspended for some countries. Vietnam ceased issuing visas to Chinese citizens, excepting diplomatic work. Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines also suspended visa issuances: on arrival with Chinese citizens, toward the entire infected area of China and toward Hubei-related visitors who previously had travel history or currently hold a passport issued by Hubei and its neighborhood's authorities.
Evacuations of each country's citizens have been done and most of them are repatriated and quarantined for at least 14 days. Travel restrictions and advisories have been issued, mainly to East Asian and European countries.
The pandemic has caused lockdowns in some places, such as Wuhan of China, Daegu of South Korea, Luzon of the Philippines, Italy, Denmark, France, Malaysia, Czech Republic, Spain, and India. Public or mass gatherings are prohibited or restricted, including schools and workplaces. A lot of concerts and sport events are canceled.
1 March The United Nations released $15 million from the UN's Central Emergency Fund emergency funds to help vulnerable countries fight coronavirus COVID-19.
Authorities in South Korea advised people to stay indoors and not attend any events. The school break was extended by one week across the country, and three weeks in Daegu.
Seoul authorities have filed a complaint to prosecutors, asking them to charge the leader of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Lee Man-hee and 11 others for murder and obstructing efforts to contain the coronavirus.
In the United States, the American Physical Society cancelled its annual meeting, which was to be held in Denver, Colorado from 2 to 6 March.
In Japan, one of Sharp Corporation's LCD panel factories will turn some of its production capacity to surgical masks. At end of March it will produce 150,000 masks a day, eventually rising to 500,000 a day. Other Japanese mask makers have increased their production 5-fold, rising from 20 million, to 100 million masks per week, combined.
2 March
The WHO Director-General announced that containment of the virus must still be the international top priority.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control announced that it has increased the risk level from moderate to high for people in the European Union.
In the United States, several schools were closed in the state of Washington due to the rise of coronavirus cases.
The United Kingdom calls an emergency meeting on the virus, as cases there increased by 12.
The Lower House of the Polish Parliament passed a bill on special measures regarding the spread of the new coronavirus.
The leader of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Lee Man-hee, apologised for its role in the outbreak.
New Zealand extended travel restrictions on Iran and China by seven days. Travellers arriving from northern Italy and South Korea will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
The Badminton World Federation announced it has postponed the Portugal International tournament, originally scheduled to be held from 5 to 8 March.
3 March South Korean president Moon Jae-in declared war on the epidemic, with more hospital beds and face masks to be made available. More than 30 trillion won will be injected into the economy for support, and government agencies will operate round the clock.
South Korean CDC officials approve the first test completed by a Korean life science company and approve another test the following day.Chad Terhune, Dan Levine, Hyunjoo Jin, and Jane Lanhee Lee. (18 March 2020). "Special Report: How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirus". Reuters website Retrieved 21 March 2020.
Indonesia plans to build a hospital in Galang Island to treat people with the coronavirus.
Singapore will ban visitors arriving from South Korea, Iran and northern Italy from 4 March, with Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders returning from these places to be issued Stay-Home Notices (SHN) lasting 14 days. All travellers entering Singapore with fever or signs of respiratory illness will be required to undergo swab tests, with penalties for refusal. The travel advisory is expanded to include Iran, northern Italy, Japan and South Korea.
India suspended all visas belonging to citizens of Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan immediately, along with travellers who went to these places. Authorities advised against non-essential travel to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea, along with medical screening for travellers arriving from 14 places.
Iran has temporarily released more than 54,000 prisoners due to the spread of the new coronavirus in crowded jails. Iran has also announced plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers against the outbreak.
Hong Kong arranged four chartered flights to evacuate 533 Hong Kong residents stuck in Hubei province.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General stated that the latest global death rate of the new coronavirus outbreak was far higher than seasonal flu, 3.4% and much less than 1% respectively. The WHO also announced a severe shortage of personal protective equipment due to panic buying and hoarding, which was endangering medical workers. In addition, with Ebola on the wane, UN officials announced they were preparing to combat coronavirus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.