November 2002 First cases of a mystery respiratory illness in Guangdong province in southern China
10 February 2003 Rumours of the outbreak are posted on the ProMed global infectious disease alert system
11 February The Chinese Ministry of Health notifies the WHO of an outbreak of an unknown respiratory disease but does not allow officials to investigate
21 February A doctor from Guangdong stays at a Hong Kong hotel, infecting 16 people, who spread the disease to Hanoi, Toronto and Singapore
28 February Carlo Urbani, a WHO doctor in Hanoi, treats one of the people infected in Hong Kong. He…
