SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

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SARS-CoV-2 pandemic The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was a global outbreak of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in late 2019. It prompted unprecedented international responses involving organizations such as the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, United Nations, and national agencies across China, Italy, United States, and Brazil. The pandemic affected global institutions including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union, African Union, and led to high-profile political, scientific, and legal actions in jurisdictions like United Kingdom, Germany, France, India, and Japan.

Background and origins

The pandemic spread along major travel corridors linking cities including Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Milan, Madrid, New York City, Los Angeles, São Paulo, London, and Mumbai and involved maritime routes to ports such as Rotterdam and Singapore. Surveillance data compiled by groups like Johns Hopkins University and agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control documented waves that affected regions like North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania with notable outbreaks on ships such as Diamond Princess. Public health metrics were analyzed by academic centers at Imperial College London, Columbia University, University of Toronto, University of Sydney, and National University of Singapore and reported in journals like The Lancet, Nature, Science, New England Journal of Medicine, and BMJ.

Virological characterization used methods from laboratories at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Pasteur Institute, US Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health with protein structure studies at European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Max Planck Society, and Scripps Research Institute. Clinical presentations were documented in hospitals such as Mount Sinai Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Royal Free Hospital, and Charité, showing symptoms ranging from fever and cough to acute respiratory distress treated in intensive care units at institutions including John Radcliffe Hospital and Karolinska University Hospital. Comorbidities were examined in cohorts from Kaiser Permanente, Veterans Health Administration, NHS, and universities such as University of São Paulo and Peking University with outcomes stratified by demographic groups studied by think tanks like The Brookings Institution and Pew Research Center.

Responses included non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented by governments in China, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany involving measures influenced by advisors from Imperial College London and modeled by groups at Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Legal measures involved courts such as the Supreme Court of the United States and parliaments including the House of Commons and Bundestag debating emergency powers and fiscal packages like those proposed by the United States Congress, European Commission, and Japanese Diet. Global coordination involved entities including the World Health Organization, G20, G7, United Nations Security Council, World Trade Organization, and philanthropic actors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust.

Economic shocks were recorded by institutions including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and central banks like the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, and Bank of Japan affecting markets on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange, and Tokyo Stock Exchange. Social effects were evident in sectors like aviation represented by International Air Transport Association, hospitality chains like Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide, education institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Oxford, and University of Delhi, and cultural venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and La Scala. Labor and legal impacts involved unions like the AFL–CIO, treaties and agreements considered by bodies such as the International Labour Organization, and national legislatures addressing stimulus bills in Canada, Australia, India, and South Africa.

Vaccine development saw campaigns by consortia including Operation Warp Speed, partnerships like Pfizer–BioNTech and AstraZeneca–University of Oxford, and manufacturers such as Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac, and Sinopharm. Clinical trials were overseen by regulators including the Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and China National Medical Products Administration with results published in The Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. Therapeutics evaluated included antiviral drugs tested at institutions like NIH Clinical Center, antibody therapies developed by companies such as Regeneron and Eli Lilly, and repurposed medicines assessed by trials coordinated by World Health Organization and networks like RECOVERY Trial at University of Oxford.

Genomic surveillance was performed by initiatives such as GISAID, national consortia like the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, and research centers at Broad Institute, Genome Institute of Singapore, and Wellcome Sanger Institute. Public health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health England, and Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention maintained monitoring systems while academic groups at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Caltech, ETH Zurich, and University of Melbourne modeled transmission dynamics. International cooperation involved forums such as the World Health Organization and multilateral meetings of leaders from the G7 and G20 to align surveillance, vaccination, and research priorities.

Category:21st-century pandemics