타임라인으로 보는 2020년 전세계 코로나 상황<br /><br />The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has affected many aspects of our lives.<br />And, as of the last day of year 2020,... COVID-19 cases worldwide has reached over 82 million.<br />Jang Tae-hyun goes through this year's COVID-19 timeline.<br />At the very end of 2019, a new virus emerged that would throw the next year into chaos.<br />This virus is called SARS-CoV-2, which belongs to the family of coronaviruses, named for the crown-like spikes on their surfaces.<br />It's the same group as prior outbreaks like SARS and MERS and can spread through droplets, affecting the human respiratory system.<br />The novel coronavirus appears to have emerged from Wuhan, China... at a seafood market.<br />The first cases of a mysterious pneumonia were detected last December in Wuhan and reported to the World Health Organization.<br />The Chinese health authorities shut down the market after it was discovered that wild animals sold there could have been the source of the virus.<br />Wuhan, home to 11 million people, was put under strict lockdown,... and no one was allowed to leave the city.<br />By this point, there were cases in many other countries too.<br />The world watched as a cluster of cases grew on a cruise ship docked in Japan... called the Diamond Princess,... leading to more than 3,700 passengers being quarantined on board for about a month.<br />More than 700 passengers tested positive and 14 died.<br />In March, the WHO acknowledged that what many had feared... had come true.<br />"We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic."<br />As cases surged in South Korea, the country mounted a swift and efficient response.<br />It rolled out innovative ways of testing, like drive-thru and walk-thru, and this was the start of social distancing.<br />Eventually, all schools would switch to online classes, but the initial response was a combination of online learning... and distancing in the classroom.<br />"When high school seniors come back to school, this will be the new normal in the COVID-19 era."<br />In Europe, the first few months saw a surge of the virus in Italy, Spain and the UK, leading to some of the harshest lockdowns of the pandemic.<br />To date, the continent has reported about 30 percent of the world's COVID-19 death toll.<br />By far the highest number of cases in the world are in the United States.<br />The first cases detected there sparked panic buying of basic necessities.<br />In the autumn, President Trump and the First Lady Melania Trump tested positive... as did many other White House officials.<br />South America has seen an especially bad economic impact.<br />Companies have gone bankrupt, laying off workers who now struggle even to buy food.<br />By November, drugmakers were starting to announce that they had successfully developed safe vaccines, bringing hope that life could soon return to normal.<br />The first person in the world to get the vaccine made by Pfizer as part of the official rollout... was a 90-year-old woman in the UK.<br />Days later, vaccines were administered in the U.S., Isr
