Trump's poll slump to Brexit deal: 2020, a year of disorder amid Covid-19

Coronavirus seared the world through the year, sending countries into lockdown and devastating economies. The outbreak temporarily abated in summer but now a second deadlier wave of the virus is sweeping across Europe, forcing countries into lockdown once again.

The US, the UK, Switzerland and Serbia began administering vaccines to the most vulnerable in early December. The rest of Europe kicked off its vaccination drive in late December. Margaret Keenan, the first person in the world to receive a coronavirus vaccine. The 91-year-old was given the Pfizer Covid-19 jab on December 8.

WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was criticised for moving too slowly in declaring the global health emergency and being too trusting of China. The US even halted WHO funding before resuming it later.

A post-Brexit free trade deal was signed in December, sealing the UK’s exit from the bloc. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted this picture after the announcement.

It was third-time lucky for Democrat Joe Biden, who won the race in a nail-biting election in November to become the next US president. He had previously run for the White House in 1988 and 2008. His running mate Kamala Harris made history as the first female, first black, and first Indian-American vice-president-elect.

The year opened with Australia experiencing its worst fire season on record. Nearly six per cent of the country was in flames and nearly three million animals killed. The US faced similar record-breaking wildfires later in the year. Other parts of the US, Central America, and Southeast Asia were hit with numerous destructive tropical storms.

Rumours about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s health — and speculation over his death — went into overdrive in April and the world worried about power transition in a regime armed with nuclear weapons. The rumours were put to rest after a state-sponsored photo of him resurfaced in May.

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, fell as low as minus $37.63 a barrel in April. As the world shut down and the demand for oil plummeted, oil firms began to run out of space to store the surplus supply. Producers then started to

US-China relations nosedived, with Trump calling Covid-19 the “China virus” and other governments threatening to

The Tokyo games are now scheduled to start in July 2021. The organising committee has made it clear that it will go ahead with the plan “with or without Covid”.

The killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, by white police officers in May in the US sparked protests across the world and inspired anti-racism rallies. In the picture above, a protester carries an injured protester to safety.

Jacinda Ardern won a second term as New Zealand’s Prime Minister after her success at handling the country’s coronavirus outbreak helped secure a landslide victory. The country was one of the first to close its borders, and Ardern announced a nationwide lockdown in March when it only had 102 cases.