(This is a developing story. Tech and Lifestyle Journal recommends major news organizations as reliable sources for more updated information about Covid-19.)
-Latest update: March 29, 2020
December 31, 2019 – China disclosed to the World Health Organization (WHO) 41 cases of mysterious pneumonia, mostly linked to a Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. The same seafood market was shut the following day.
January 7, 2020 – China identified the new coronavirus, labeled as novel coronavirus (nCoV).
January 11, 2020 – China reports the first death caused by nCoV.
January 13, 2020 – The first nCoV case was reported outside China—in Thailand.
January 23, 2020 – China placed Wuhan under quarantine. The province of Hubei was also quarantined after.
January 25, 2020 – Chinese New Year. Experts anticipated major issues as numerous Chinese nationals came home to the mainland to celebrate.
January 30, 2020 – WHO declared a global public health emergency.
January 30, 2020 – The Philippines confirmed the first tested positive case of the 2019 novel coronavirus—a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, China. She arrived from Hong Kong on January 21.
February 1, 2020 – The Philippines recorded the first-ever death due to the virus outside mainland China—a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan, China
February 11, 2020 – WHO called the new coronavirus disease as Covid-19.
March 5, 2020 – A 48-year-old Filipino lawyer who came from a Tokyo trip tested positive for Covid-19. He reported coughing first on February 25 and was confined at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City on March 1.
March 6, 2020 – The Philippines reported the first local transmission of Covid-19. The 62-year-old man had no travel history outside the country but was said to be in direct contact with an infected person. It was noted that he was regularly visiting a Muslim prayer hall in Greenhills, San Juan City. He was admitted to a hospital on March 1 for ‘severe pneumonia.’
March 7, 2020 – The Department of Health (DOH) declared Code Red Sublevel 1, a preempted call to prepare for a possible increase in infection cases.
March 11, 2020 – WHO declared a pandemic. At the home front, a 67-year-old Filipina was the second recorded death due to Covid-19 in the country and the first Filipino national to be a casualty. She was also the 35th case of Covid-19 locally.
March 12, 2020 – President Rodrigo Duterte declared Code Red Sublevel 1 and put the entire Metro Manila under a community quarantine, calling for social distancing measures. A partial lockdown of the capital was set on March 15 to last until April 14, 2020. Classes in all levels in the region were suspended until April 12, a drastic extension from an original suspension covering March 10 to 14.
March 15, 2020 – The partial lockdown of Metro Manila began.
March 16, 2020 – The entire island of Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine. All work in the metro were suspended (some were advised to consider the work-from-home arrangement, while others with ‘essential jobs’ were allowed to report to work). Public transportation was suspended.
March 17, 2020 – The entire country was declared to be under a state of calamity.
March 25, 2020 – President Duterte formally signs legislation granting him additional powers as the government addresses the Covid-19 crisis in the country. The special powers include the authority to reshuffle or realign the national budget to provide assistance to the poor (about 18 million low-income households will receive P5,000 to P8,000 monthly emergency subsidy for two months).
March 28, 2020 – The number of reported confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country breached the 1,000-mark. This day, the number was 1,075—with the death toll at 68 and the number of patients who recovered at 35.
(To be continuously updated.)