The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. It is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of 5 January 2021, more than 85.6 million cases have been confirmed, with more than 1.85 million deaths attributed to COVID-19.