There was little hesitation in designating 2020 as the “COVID” year. If the pandemic was not the only notable event of this intense year, it was nonetheless the permanent reading grid.
Summary of the International News of 2020
January 23, 2020: China quarantines the large city of Wuhan, two weeks after the first official suspicious death. Numerous cases of a new disease, COVID-19, are reported there.
January 31, 2020: The United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union.
February 9, 2020: Korean film Parasite triumphs at the Oscars, an unprecedented success for a production for which English is not the main language.
The end of February 2020: Europe surpasses China in the number of infections with the virus that causes COVID-19, with northern Italy being the most affected area.
March 9, 2020: the Italian authorities announce the confinement of its population, a policy that is replicated in the following weeks on almost the entire European continent.
April 20, 2020: the price of the American oil barrel becomes negative
May 25, 2020: the death of George Floyd is the beginning of a strong wave of protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
July 1, 2020: a referendum in Russia making Vladimir Putin exceptionally eligible for two more terms, and emphasizing patriotism, faith in God and marriage as the union of a man and a woman, is overwhelmingly approved (77.92%).
August 2020: pro-democracy demonstrations intensified after the announcement of the results of the controversial presidential election in Belarus. Lukashenko remains president.
November 7, 2020: Joe Biden is announced as the winner against Donald Trump by the US mainstream media after a long suspense following the counting of the US presidential election.
November 25, 2020: Football player and coach Diego Maradona died.
December 2020: at least 70 million people were infected with COVID-19 worldwide. At least 1.6 million people have died.
December 30, 2020: a post-Brexit agreement is signed between the European Union and the United Kingdom, and approved by British MPs.
Summary of French news 2020
January 24, 2020: France counts its first COVID-19 patients.
February 14, 2020: Benjamin Griveaux, although supported by the political class after a scandal related to the posting of private videos online, renounces his candidacy for mayor of Paris.
February 16, 2020: Olivier Véran replaces him as Minister of Solidarity and Health Agnès Buzyn, the latter taking over for the LREM campaign for the municipal elections in Paris.
March 15, 2020: first round of municipal elections, in contested sanitary conditions, due to the pandemic COVID-19.
March 16, 2020: in a televised speech with a martial tone, Emmanuel Macron acts the containment of France.
May 11, 2020: decontamination of the country, according to the outline stated by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe two weeks earlier.
June 28, 2020: the second round of municipal elections is a victory for the ecologists (who win Besançon, Bordeaux, Lyon, Strasbourg, Tours, and remain in Grenoble). The ruling party, La République in Marche, fails to win.
July 3, 2020: Jean Castex replace Edouard Philippe as prime ministère
July and August 2020: the number of cases (July) and deaths (August) due to COVID-19 starts to rise again. Some large cities impose the wearing of masks outdoors.
October 30, 2020: as announced two days earlier by Emmanuel Macron, France begins a second containment period.
September 27, 2020: senatorial elections: the right is strengthened, and a new environmentalist party is formed.
December 2, 2020: death of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
December 15, 2020: the lockdown ends, but is replaced by a curfew from 8p.m. to 6a.m., except for Christmas Night.
December 17, 2020: Emmanuel Macron is positive for COVID-19
December 29, 2020: With an average temperature of 14 °C in France, 2020 is the hottest year on record, according to Meteo France.
In 2019, the previous year – see the summary here – it was the protests in several points of the world that had marked the news, as in Hong Kong. Global warming had been a hot question of protest as well.
