Two years ago, Wuhan's Municipal Health Commission reported that the city was seeing a cluster of cases of pneumonia.
The cause of the infection was later identified as a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes was named COVID-19.
Since then, more than 5 million people have died with the virus, international borders have been closed, and cities across the world have gone into multiple lockdowns.
But the COVID pandemic is far from over.
This week global coronavirus infections hit a record high, with almost 1 million cases detected on average each day between December 23 and 29, according to Reuters data.
Australia was one of many countries seeing all-time highs, as the Omicron variant spread like wildfire.
"Two years ago, as people gathered for New Year’s Eve celebrations, a new global threat emerged," said World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"Early on we worked out that beating this new health threat – a new coronavirus potentially capable of spreading quickly around the globe – would require three things ... Science. Solutions. Solidarity."
As the severity of the virus became known, vaccines and treatments were fast-tracked. More than 9 billion vaccine doses have now been administered.
But Dr Tedros said "politics too often triumphed over solidarity".
Although millions of people are now fully vaccinated, the annual recorded global death toll — which reached 1.8 million in 2020 — increased to 3.5 million this year.
"Misinformation and disinformation, often spread by a small number of people, have been a constant distraction, undermining science and trust in lifesaving health tools."
But Dr Tedros said it was not "too late to come together to do the right thing".
"I still remain optimistic that this can be the year we not only end the acute stage of the pandemic, but we also chart a path to stronger health security."
COVID whistleblower remembered in China
On December 20, 2019, COVID-19 whistleblower Li Wenliang learned of the possibility of a pneumonia-causing virus in Wuhan.
This year, on the second anniversary of his discovery, thousands of people left messages on his social media account.
But Dr Li did not see them — he died in hospital with the virus in February 2020.
As of Wednesday, mainland China had reported 101,890 confirmed coronavirus cases, including both local and imported ones, with a death toll of 4,636.
China's industrial and tech hub of Xian reported 155 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, taking its tally of locally transmitted infections to the highest in any Chinese city this year.
Despite the low case count compared with clusters in many cities around the world, Xian officials have put the city of 13 million under lockdown.
Xian is also a major tourism destination, drawing visitors to its collection of terracotta warriors buried with China's first emperor more than 2,000 years ago.
COVID-19 will again stifle New Year celebrations
Governments in many countries are scaling back New Year festivities for a second year in an effort to contain the rampant contagion.
In Europe, where almost 1 million people have died of coronavirus over the past 12 months, traditional concerts and firework displays that typically draw thousands of people onto the streets have been cancelled in most major cities, including London, Paris, Zurich, Brussels, Warsaw and Rome.
Indian authorities started to impose stringent rules on Thursday to prevent mass gatherings, with night curfews imposed in all major cities and restaurants ordered to limit customers.
"It is being seen that social gatherings are going on in an unrestricted manner with people flouting all social distancing norms," said Rajesh Tope, the health minister of the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.
Dr Tedros urged people to rethink their party plans.
However, despite spiking cases, some places are ploughing ahead with events regardless, including Sydney, which is hosting its annual fireworks spectacular over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
NSW's daily COVID-19 case tally nearly doubled for the second time in three days on Friday, with 21,151 new infections.
Last year, the state banned crowds from attending the fireworks when case numbers were in the low 100s.
Likewise, New York said it would hold its Times Square party, albeit in a scaled-back version, with far fewer people allowed to watch as the iconic, giant ball drops down a pole to mark the arrival of 2022.
ABC/wires
