The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan , Hubei , China , in December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and recognized it as a pandemic on 11 March. As of 31 March 2020, more than 785,500 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 200 countries and territories, resulting in approximately 37,500 deaths. More than 165,500 people have since recovered.