An anniversary of one of the worst pandemics in the world.
Five years ago, reports surfaced out of Wuhan, China, of cases of viral pneumonia.
This was the origin of what would later be named COVID-19.
A man from Toronto would be identified as Canada’s first case at the end of January 2020.
The United States identified its first case six days earlier.
Within weeks, the virus would migrate to other countries and medical facilities became overrun with cases and ill-prepared to deal with them.
The World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic in the middle of March 2020, leading to closures and travel restrictions for several months.
It would also result in new public health measures such as mask-measuring, physical distancing, and hand-hygeine to help prevent its spread.
Vaccines would not be readily available until the end of the year.
The virus, which has changed many strains, has since been linked to at least 7 million deaths worldwide, and over 60 thousand in Canada.
There have been at least 777 million cases since the initial outbreak.
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