January 23 in History
2020 – The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern
The ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first identified from an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing it to spread across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on this day in 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. As of January 22, 2022, the pandemic had caused more than 346 million cases and 5.58 million deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history.
-Wikipedia