National COVID-19 Day is observed annually on March 11, the date the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global pandemic. The purpose of this day is to pause, reflect, remember, and come together as a community to inspire one another to hope for better times ahead. Nothing speaks more eloquently of the human spirit than resilience, and resilience is what shines through the despair and mind-numbing exhaustion of the COVID-19 pandemic.
HISTORY OF NATIONAL COVID-19 DAY
National COVID-19 Day is first observed on March 11, 2021. In 2020, however, Jamie Aten of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute declared the day to be a special occasion. This event was made possible by the Humanitarian Disaster Institute’s collaboration with global organisations such as World Vision and VOMO. The 11th of March was chosen because the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global epidemic on that date. It is a bittersweet observance because it attempts to honour those who perished in the pandemic while also uniting those who survived. In addition, this day is notable for its humanitarian spirit, which seeks to express gratitude to all volunteers and service providers who helped those in need, while continuing to support those still affected by the pandemic and its aftermath.
The common ancestor of coronaviruses existed approximately 10,000 years ago, according to preliminary scientific dating. Numerous bat and bird species that have evolved over tens of millions of years carry the virus. There is no evidence that the most recent common ancestor of coronaviruses is millions of years older than previous research indicated, because the virus evolved alongside the evolution of these particular species.
The first human coronavirus was discovered in the United Kingdom in 1965. A virus known as B814 was discovered and produced in a small child with a cold at the Common Cold Research Unit in Wiltshire, and was described as being exclusive to the respiratory system. In 1966, University of Chicago researchers made a comparable discovery. During the subsequent two years, additional strains were cultivated, and in 1968, a group of researchers classified these strains as members of the coronavirus family in a letter to “Nature” magazine.
When the SARS outbreak in southern China began at the end of 2002, a strain of coronavirus 2003 was identified as the cause. Until 2012, various novel strains of coronavirus were isolated and identified at various times, particularly in individuals with pneumonia. In the year 2020, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in the Wuhan District of China.
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5 PANDEMIC FACTS
More than 6,2 million lives were lost as a result of the pandemic.
There were over 80 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States alone.
The most recent pandemic was swine flu (H1N1), which primarily affected infants and adolescents.
The World Bank estimated that 163 million people would be pushed into poverty by the pandemic by 2021.
The pandemic affected more than 90 percent of the world’s student population, particularly in developing nations where internet access is scarce.
NATIONAL COVID-19 DAY DATES
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | March 11 | Saturday |
| 2024 | March 11 | Monday |
| 2025 | March 11 | Tuesday |
| 2026 | March 11 | Wednesday |
| 2027 | March 11 | Thursday |
