Natural Disasters & Epidemics

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] EU finance ministers agree on a €540 billion loan package to alleviate the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Pope Francis livestreams the Urbi et Orbi blessing for Easter; it is the second blessing in a month, with the first taking place on March 27 during a special prayer service for the end of the pandemic   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] OPEC and allies strike a deal to cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day, the largest such cut agreed upon, starting May 1   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it expects the world economy to shrink 3%, the worst contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] U.S. president Donald Trump announces that the U.S. will suspend funding towards the World Health Organization (WHO) pending an investigation of its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship with China   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 2 million worldwide   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The 2020 Tour de France is delayed until August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] China revises the COVID-19 death toll in Wuhan upward, adding 1,290 more fatalities to bring the country's reported COVID-19 deaths to 4,632.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Europe surpasses 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths   

2020  The U.N. Human Rights Office accuses Myanmar of carrying out daily airstrikes in the Rakhine and Chin states and that at least 32 civilians have been killed since March 23. The separatist Arakan Army unilaterally declared a month-long ceasefire to fight the pandemic, but the military rejected the ceasefire claiming a previous ceasefire had been reneged by the insurgents   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Unrest breaks out in Paris, Berlin and Vladikavkaz as opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns continue.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Facebook removes "pseudoscience" and "conspiracy theory" as options for targeted ads as criticism mounts against social media for its role in spreading misinformation about COVID-19   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 200,000.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The number of confirmed cases passes 3 million worldwide, while the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. passes 1 million   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The total number of recovered COVID-19 patients reaches 1 million worldwide, according to data from The Johns Hopkins University   

2020  A team of British and Kenyan scientists announce the discovery of Microsporidia MB, a parasitic microbe in the Microsporidia fungi group that blocks mosquitos from carrying malaria, potentially paving the way for the control of malaria   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The U.K. death toll from COVID-19 becomes the highest in Europe at 32,313 after exceeding the death toll of 29,029 in Italy   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] New evidence indicates that an Algerian-born French fishmonger, who had not traveled to China and did not have contact with any Chinese nationals, was treated for pneumonia from an unknown source on December 27, 2019, now identified as COVID-19   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 4 million worldwide   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Wuhan reports its first coronavirus cases in more than a month. An 89-year-old man is confirmed positive, but his wife and several members of the community are recorded as asymptomatic cases   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 300,000   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The UN warns of a global mental health crisis caused by isolation, fear, uncertainty and economic turmoil   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Bundesliga becomes the first major sports league to resume its season since March 11   

2020  cyclone Amphan makes landfall in eastern India and Bangladesh, killing over 100 people and forcing the evacuation of more than 4 million others. It causes over US$13 billion in damage, making it the costliest cyclone ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, shattering the record previously held by Nargis.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 5 million worldwide, with 106,000 new cases recorded over the past 24 hours, the highest single-day figure so far.   

2020  Flight PK8303, a Pakistan International Airlines passenger aircraft, crashes in a residential area near Karachi, in Pakistan, killing 97 of the 99 total people on board and injuring dozens on the ground   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] Brazil overtakes Russia to become the country with the second highest number of COVID-19 cases, with over 330,000 reported. President Jair Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the threat of the virus.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] China reports no new cases for the first time since the pandemic began, according to the National Health Commission.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The U.S. death toll passes 100,000 - more Americans than were killed in the Vietnam War and Korean War combined, and approaching that of the First World War, where 116,000 Americans died in combat.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 6 million worldwide.   

2020  Kivu Ebola epidemic: The World Health Organization reports six new cases of Ebola, and UNICEF reports five deaths, in a renewed outbreak of the disease in Mbandaka, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The global death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 400,000   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 7 million worldwide.   

2020  [COVID-19 pandemic] A Harvard University study suggests that COVID-19 may have been spreading in China as early as August 2019, based on hospital car park usage and web search trends.   

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