The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID‑19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Quick Scoop

  • Date of declaration: March 11, 2020.
  • Who declared it: The World Health Organization (Director‑General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus).
  • Why it mattered: It signaled that COVID‑19 was spreading widely across multiple world regions and required urgent, coordinated global action.

What happened around that time?

  • By March 11, 2020, there were over 118,000 confirmed cases across 114 countries, with more than 4,000 deaths reported worldwide.
  • WHO had already labeled the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020, which is its highest alert level before using the term “pandemic.”

In short: it was first a global health emergency (January 30, 2020), and then formally called a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Mini timeline

  1. Late 2019: Cluster of pneumonia cases detected in Wuhan, China.
  1. January 30, 2020: WHO declares a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
  1. March 11, 2020: WHO declares COVID‑19 a pandemic.
  1. May 2023: WHO announces that COVID‑19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, though the virus continues to circulate.

Simple Q&A style

  • Q: When was COVID declared a pandemic?
    A: March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization.
  • Q: Is the emergency still ongoing?
    A: The global emergency status ended in May 2023, but COVID‑19 remains present as an ongoing health issue in many countries.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.