How COVID-19 Took Over the World in 2020

A new coronavirus causes the disease COVID-19 which is blamed for causing more than 1.8 million deaths around the world and widespread economic damage.

Each nation has its own story of how it dealt with the spread of the coronavirus. News of promising¹ vaccines² and medicines are bringing hope, but a large increase in the number of cases remains³ a problem.

As 2020 came to an end, the Associated Press gathered stories about the crisis⁴ from its reporters in several countries. Here are shorter versions of what they wrote.

Brazil

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro criticized quarantines. He said closing businesses would harm the economy and punish the poor. He did not take the virus seriously enough and claimed that nothing could stop 70 percent of Brazilians from catching⁵ it. He would not take responsibility when people became sick. Instead, Bolsonaro provided economic aid to ease the pain of the pandemic.

China

In China, workers have returned to factories and offices, students are back in the classroom and people are gathering⁶ at restaurants. In the cities, wearing a face covering is not required outside of subways and other crowded places. Life is back to normal in China.

Germany

Germans eased restrictions⁷ in the summer. That was the result of widespread testing for the virus which won wide praise. It brought the number of daily COVID-19 cases down from a high of more than 6,000 in late March to the few hundreds by the warmer months.

But people stopped following the rules all the time, so the numbers began to climb to nearly four times the March daily record. Germany is now in a new lockdown as it tries to bring the pandemic back under control.

India

A nation of 1.3 billion people, India is likely to become the country with the world's highest coronavirus numbers. It established a nationwide lockdown early on. But the number of cases went up quickly as restrictions eased and its weak public health system struggled to deal with the situation. There are questions about its unusually low death rate. In addition, India's struggling economy recorded its worst performance in at least 20 years.

Iran

At the start, Iranian officials downplayed COVID-19. They denied the rising number of infections. They refused to close Muslim religious centers and delayed closing businesses. The coronavirus pandemic has worsened in Iran in the course of the year. Now the virus has sickened and killed top officials. It is perhaps Iran's greatest threat since the unrest and war that followed its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Israel

Israel went into its second nationwide coronavirus lockdown in September. People observing the most traditional form of religion did not obey safety rules and crowded together for ceremonies and services, so COVID-19 cases continued to rise. This gave others the idea that the community puts more importance on religion over science and cares little about the greater good.

Italy

In February, Italy became the center of COVID-19 cases in Europe. Italy's wealthy health care system nearly collapsed⁹ under the weight of the pandemic. The lessons of that earlier wave did not help the much older population of the country in September. The number of infections rose again and many of those victims were older people. Hospitals once again were almost at a breaking point.

Japan

The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan started in February when a cruise¹⁰ ship, the Diamond Princess, returned to its home port near Tokyo. The boat carried people sick with the virus. More got sick as the passengers stayed on the ship for weeks. Many criticized how health officials handled that quarantine. Wearing face coverings is a part of daily life in Japan. There are also strong border controls.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were canceled, but the country hopes to hold them next summer.

Kenya

Usually, young people have less serious coronavirus infections. But the effects of the pandemic in Kenya have fallen hard on the young. Some children were forced into hard labor¹¹ and prostitution. The schools have closed until 2021. Babies were born in poor conditions. Growing economic pressures and closed schools hurt millions of Kenyan children.

South Africa

In the world's most unequal country, the disease hit the poor the hardest. Unemployment rose to 42 percent. But South Africa had a secret weapon. Its health professionals had fought against the epidemics¹³ of HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant TB. The country's leaders listened to their advice on how to deal with the coronavirus. So, the worst possible outcomes¹⁴ have not yet happened.

Spain

In Spain, many question a system that failed to prevent so many deaths. Politicians say that the system did not collapse⁸ during the first wave of infections, when the country recorded 929 deaths in a single day. But health professionals say that the actual cost was overworked staff.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the government closed its borders and shut down nearly everything, preventing all but a few deaths.

Your turn

What do you think of the Associated Press reports? If you are online, we would like to hear from you in the comments section.

Words in This Story

pandemic - n. an occurrence¹⁵ in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world

downplay – v. to make (something) seem smaller or less important

infectious¹⁶ - adj. capable of causing infection

lockdown - n. a state of isolation¹⁷ or restricted access put in place as a security measure.

quarantine - n. the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

prostitution –n. the trade of providing sex in exchange for money

epidemic¹² –n. when a disease spreads quickly and affects large number of people

1 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

9 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

10 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

13 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

14 outcomes   

结果( outcome的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The two scenarios provide illustrations of consistent set of outcomes for range of possible policies. 这两个方案说明某一套可能采取的政策将会产生的一系列后果。
• We analyzed all the possible outcomes of your mission, Commander. 我们分析过所有可能的结果，指挥官。

15 occurrence   

n.发生，出现，事件，发生的事件

参考例句：

• Two things account for its occurrence.发生这件事的原因有两个。
• For a military commander，winning or losing a battle is a common occurrence.胜败乃兵家常事。

16 infectious   

adj.传染的，有传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。
• What an infectious laugh she has!她的笑声多么具有感染力啊！

17 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。