2002–2004 SARS outbreak
The 2002–2004 outbreak of SARS, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), infected over 8,000 people from 30 countries and territories, and resulted in at least 774 deaths worldwide.
| 2002–2004 SARS outbreak | |
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A map of the infected countries of the epidemic of SARS between 1 November 2002 and 7 August 2003 Countries with confirmed deaths Countries with confirmed infections Countries without confirmed cases | |
A map of SARS cases and deaths around the world regarding the global population | |
| Disease | SARS |
| Virus strain | SARS-CoV-1 |
| Location | Worldwide (Mostly in East Asia) |
| First outbreak | Shunde, Guangdong, China |
| Index case | 16 November 2002 |
| Arrival date | Early 2003 |
| Date | 16 November 2002 – 19 May 2004 (1 year, 6 months and 3 days) |
| Confirmed cases | 8,096 |
Deaths | 774 |
Territories | Around 30 countries |
| History of the People's Republic of China |
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| History of |
| China portal |
| Coronaviruses |
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The outbreak was first identified in Foshan, Guangdong, China, in November 2002. The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified of the outbreak in February 2003, and issued a global alert in March 2003. Initially, the cause of the outbreak was unknown, and some media outlets reported that an influenza virus was a potential culprit. The major part of the outbreak lasted about 8 months, and the World Health Organization declared SARS contained on 5 July 2003. However, several SARS cases were reported until May 2004.
In late December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, a strain of coronavirus closely related to the one that caused SARS, was discovered in Wuhan, Hubei, China. This strain caused COVID-19, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic.