Table 1. The chronology of the SARS outbreak.

Date	Major Events
16 November 2002	The first known case of SARS occurs in Foshan, Guangdong, southern China.
8 February 2003	Guangdong government informs the central government in Beijing about the outbreak.
11–14 February	Vice-mayor of Guangzhou says that the city is coping with the outbreak of atypical pneumonia and that “no extraordinary measures are needed.” On the 14th, the Ministry of Health officially tells WHO that the disease is under control in Guangdong.
21 February	Hong Kong index case arrives in the Metropole Hotel from Guangdong; the virus starts to spread globally.
11 March	The WHO Director-General, Gro Harlem Brundtland, raises member states' concern over the lack of information about the Guangdong outbreak to the WHO representative and asks him to convey it to Chinese Ministry of Health. On the same day, Hong Kong reports the Prince of Wales Hospital outbreak to WHO.
12–13 March	WHO issues global alert about atypical pneumonia; China's Health Minister accepts a WHO mission to examine the Guangdong outbreak.
15 March	WHO officially names the disease as “severe acute respiratory syndrome” (SARS).
17 March	China insists Guangdong's outbreak is “well under control.”
2 April	WHO issues travel advisory for Hong Kong and Guangdong province.
3 April	The Guangdong government allows a WHO team to investigate SARS in the province; Health Minister Zhang Wenkang states that China is “safe.”
8 April	Jiang Yanyong, a retired Chinese surgeon, exposes the underreporting of SARS cases in Beijing to Time magazine.
17 April	After a Politburo meeting, Beijing announces a national “war” on the virus.
20 April	Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing's Mayor Meng Xuenong were sacked for negligence in dealing with the disease. The Ministry of Health announces confirmed cases of SARS, which are at 9 times as the day before.
22 April	A major outbreak in Taiwan begins.
23 April	The SARS Control and Prevention Headquarters of the State Council is established with Vice-Premier Wu Yi as commander-in-chief; WHO issues travel advisory for Toronto, Beijing, and Shanxi province.
27 April	Xiaotangshan SARS hospital is completed in 8 days, involving 7,000 workers in Beijing.
29 April	Wen Jiabao takes part in an ASEAN-China Leaders' Meeting on SARS.
3 May	WHO sends three officials to Taiwan with Beijing's consent.
8 May	WHO issues travel advisory for Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, and Taipei.
14 May	WHO team meets Wu Yi.
15 May	The Chinese government passes a new law against those who break SARS quarantine and deliberately spread the disease.
23 May	WHO lifts travel advisory for Hong Kong and Guangdong.
27 May	Delegates to the World Health Assembly approve a resolution on SARS and revising the International Health Regulations.
5 July	WHO announces that SARS is under control worldwide.

From [39].