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. 2023 Oct 29;24(21):15718. doi: 10.3390/ijms242115718

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© 2023 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Historical and potential emergence of lethal coronaviruses. This timeline illustrates the sequential emergence of significant coronaviruses from 2002 to a projected window up to 2034. In 2002, SARS-CoV emerged, quickly reaching a peak of 400 cases per day, and was declared contained by the WHO after 8000 total cases. MERS-CoV peaked at 150 new cases per day, with subsequent outbreaks leading to 2500 total infections. SARS-CoV-2, causing the COVID-19 pandemic, had a daily peak of 3.8 million cases, accumulating 674 million cases globally. The period from 2028 to 2034 represents the anticipated window for the potential emergence of a new lethal coronavirus. The timeline underscores the cyclical nature of coronavirus outbreaks, highlighting the importance of global preparedness for future occurrences.