Applause and rage from the balconies, the pandemic unbridled, military trucks carrying coffins, health personnel wearing protective equipment and millions of people protesting demanding racial equality.
There will never be a year comparable to 2020.
See 13 photos that marked 2020, selected by HuffPost editors from around the world.
The coronavirus changed everything… except rush hour in Tokyo
ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA / REUTERS
Although it recorded fewer deaths than many comparable countries, Japan could not escape the shocking changes that COVID-19 brought to everyday life.
Nevertheless, not much has changed in Tokyo's infamous rush hour.
In March, the government urged citizens to avoid crowded places and work from home. But this was not possible for everyone, as many employers refused to implement flexible working policies.
Although congestion on Japan's busy trains has slowed due to the pandemic, major stations, such as Shinagawa Station in central Tokyo, which we see here in early March, are still crowded with masked passengers during rush hour.
Japan had recorded at least 201,000 cases of coronavirus and 2,833 deaths by mid-December.
– Satoko Yasuda, HuffPost Japan
The sunrise after the darkest night of Italy
HANDOUT / REUTERS
It was the darkest night in Bergamo, the city hit hardest by the coronavirus in Italy.
With the first light of dawn on March 18, a series of 15 military trucks slowly transported their precious cargo from the cemetery to the highway leading out of the city. They carried 65 coffins that could not be buried in the city: the cemetery was full, the funeral homes were in a state of disrepair and they could no longer cremate the corpses.
On March 18, Italy reported 475 coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the final death toll to nearly 3,000, including 319 in Lombardy, where Bergamo is the worst-hit area in the country.
The soldiers escorted the coffins south to the city of Bologna, in the neighboring Emilia-Romana region. After cremation, the ashes were returned to the near faces of the dead. This is the only way a funeral could be held in Bergamo. People were watching crying from the windows.
Bergamo and its province counted about 6,000 victims in the first wave of the coronavirus in March and April. At the end of June, a memorial service was held for the victims of the city, a large collective funeral for those who were buried unburied. Almost every Bergamo citizen has lost a parent, child, brother or sister in the pandemic.
– Giulia Belardelli, HuffPost Italy
Photographic portrait from the front of Korea
ED JONES THROUGH GETTY IMAGES
One of the first countries to be hit by the coronavirus, South Korea saw a peak in COVID-19 cases in the spring. Although the government was prepared, the virus hit hard and fast. Most Koreans feared the worst. There was a climate of panic.
And then came the front-line nurses, who cared for their patients for endless hours.
“I try hard,” said nurse Kim Eun-hee.
But they urgently needed to find a way to avoid the painful wounds caused by the multitude of layers of protective equipment.
Nurses now wear proud patches, patches and bandages on their foreheads, cheeks and nose, as if they were medals.
The images were dynamic, encouraging and symbolic. South Korea managed to avoid the worst and, undoubtedly, all those on the front line contributed decisively to this.
When nurse Yun Na-yong (pictured above) posed for a photo during her shift between shifts at Daegu University Keimyung University Hospital on March 12, she was asked if she had any messages.
“We will win,” Yun said.
– Wan Heo, Senior Editor, HuffPost Korea
Applause, rage and pain: A year on the balcony for Spain
CARLOS ALVAREZ THROUGH GETTY IMAGES
Spain has been at the center of global interest due to COVID-19.
The noise of everything happening around the globe was contrasted with the silence in the country: During the 100 days of incarceration in the first wave, the voices of people outdoors disappeared, along with the sound of footsteps and life as we know.
It was a silence that broke relentlessly every night at eight o'clock, when the Spaniards came out on the balconies to applaud, thus thanking the medical staff for their effort. It was a gesture of solidarity, but above all a need to see other people, to feel that there is life outside our home.
However, the rise in coronavirus deaths has turned the estimate for front-line workers into anger against the government, with applause from pans and pots pounding in protest. The country experienced conflicting emotions – gratitude for front-line workers mixed with anger and pain, in a year that left nearly 50,000 dead and 1.8 million cases. A pain that surpassed only the pain of those who could not say goodbye to their loved ones.
For Spain, 2020 was the year of silence.
– Guillermo Rodriguez, HuffPost Spain
Patrick Hutchinson, a hero for Great Britain
DYLAN MARTINEZ / REUTERS
In June, Patrick Hutchinson, an activist and supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, transported far-right protester Bryn Male to safety in a moment of tension on a pro-BLM march in central London.
The photo was taken by Reuters photographer Dylan Martinez and quickly went viral, with many calling Hutchinson a “hero”.
The media focused on the photo, which made headlines in many newspapers around the world and appeared on giant posters throughout the capital.
“It's not just about saving a life. It is also about rescuing a message so that it does not derail with something as negative as a possible death, for example, “Hutchinson said in an in-depth interview with HuffPost UK.
Some, however, disagreed with the popular image, arguing that the policy of mutual respect and the idea that blacks should respond to racism and violence does not help protect blacks themselves.
– Nadine White, HuffPost UK
“Shows the social consciousness of football”
POOL THROUGH GETTY IMAGES
The stands may have been empty at Birmingham's Villa Park Stadium, but the whole of England was filled with pride on 17 June, when players and agents knelt before the English Premier League's first football game in March.
Referee Michael Oliver whistled the cross before kneeling with his assistants and players for about 10 seconds to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
When the scene unfolded, Sky Sports commentator Rob Hawthorne recorded the protest, saying, “Look what's happening.”
“It is a strong image that shows the social consciousness of football, as all the players are on their knees,” he noted. “The referee also knelt.”
The match between Aston Villa and Sheffield United ended 0-0 and was played without spectators in the stands. However, the scene with the kneeling players has since been repeated in every Premier League match.
– James Martin, HuffPost Global
The prison buildings of Australia
One of the 3,000 inmates in nine apartment buildings locked in Melbourne, Australia, looks out the window and presses the glass with his hands.
The draconian curfew in Australia's second largest city has clearly shown the authoritarianism with which governments have dealt with COVID-19 outbreaks in the most vulnerable sections of society.
“I looked out of my window, no nurses, no cleaners, no food – just a lot of cops,” 42-year-old Emel Evcin, a mother of two, told us over the phone from her two-bedroom apartment. “This is not a lockdown, this is a prison.”
A few days ago, without warning, more than 500 armed police officers surrounded the apartment buildings and put them in a “hard lockdown”, as many residents were positive for the coronavirus.
Residents spent six weeks locked in their homes, unable to leave, living on food provided to them, with two police officers on each floor of each apartment building.
Australia had recorded more than 900 deaths and more than 28,000 cases as of December 22.
– Sasha Belenky, HuffPost Australia
A river between us
This photo, taken by Reuters photographer Carlos Osorio in July, went viral because it sums up the tension between Canada and the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The photo shows two boats performing the iconic “Maid of the Mist” tour of Niagara Falls. At the back, an American tourist boat full of passengers wearing blue raincoats, which operates with a maximum of 50% of the maximum number of passengers, according to the regulations of the State of New York. It passes by a Canadian boat that only allows six passengers in total, due to local regulations in the Province of Ontario.
Although the largest unguarded border in the world has been closed, the photo of the two ships gives a picture of the different approaches taken by the two countries in dealing with the coronavirus.
Canada has recorded 515,000 cases and 14,332 deaths. South of it, the United States has recorded 18.1 million cases and 320,000 deaths.
– Andrew Yates, HuffPost Canada
“George Floyd of Quebec”: A spark in Canada
SCREEN SCREEN / FACEBOOK
The death of a woman of the Atikamekw tribe, who broadcast live the racist insults she received from hospital staff in the last seconds of her life sparked a tribal crisis that many were waiting for in Quebec. Some in the Canadian countryside call Joyce Echaquan “our George Floyd.”
The 37-year-old mother of seven died Sept. 28 at a Joliette hospital three hours' drive south of her home in Manawan's First Nations Protected Area. Shortly before her death, she uploaded a live video on Facebook, where she is seen tied to her stretcher while two members of the nursing staff unleash racist insults against her.
“You are completely stupid,” a French worker tells her. “Better dead,” he then begs, telling Echaquan “you're just being fucked.” Her death came a few minutes later.
The Joyce case sparked calls for an end to systemic racism in Quebec and prompted the province to invest $ 11 million to ensure the safety of the indigenous population in the health care system.
– ilmilie Clavel, HuffPost Quebec
Asylum seekers in Greece are running to be saved. Again.
ANGELOS TZORTZINIS THROUGH GETTY IMAGES
It is the moment when a boy carries a child in his arms as the immigrants leave one of the largest and most well-known immigrant structures, on September 9th.
More than 12,000 men, women and children ran in panic from their containers and tents to neighboring olive groves and fields, as the fire destroyed most of the miserable and suffocatingly full Moria camp on the island of Lesvos.
The camp, built to house some 2,750 people, has long been widely criticized as a symbol of Europe's failed immigration policy.
The fire broke out just hours after the Ministry of Immigration announced that 35 people in the camp tested positive for COVID-19. As the camp accommodated almost 10,000 people above its projected capacity, it was impossible to maintain social distance. Men, women and children continued to sleep under makeshift stilts made of reeds, blankets and tents that they managed to save for days after the fire.
– Antonis Fourlis, HuffPost Greece
Elections in New Orleans: All of 2020 in one photo
KATHLEEN FLYNN / REUTERS
On Oct. 16, Dana Clark and Mason's 18-month-old son waited in line outside City Hall as early voting begins in New Orleans for the U.S. presidential election.
Clark said she wore a protective cap because she did not know how many would wear a tail mask and did not have a mask for her child. She also said that she works as a teacher and wanted to protect her students.
The image justifiably went viral. It's all 2020 in one photo: a chaotic election year with a record turnout, racial inequality and a pandemic on top.
– Chris McGonigal, HuffPost US
Survival dance for culture in France
SYLVAIN THOMAS THROUGH GETTY IMAGES
Dressed in black with the sole exception of the red clown nose, 180 dancers staged a silent protest on December 12 against the ongoing closure of cultural venues in France, which includes cinemas, theaters and museums.
The group, called “Les Essentiels”, played a pantomime that symbolized the killing of civilization in a country proud of its rich artistic heritage, in the city of Montpellier in the south of France.
Along with restaurants and nightclubs, workers in France's cultural industry are among the victims of the government's restrictive measures in an effort to curb the coronavirus epidemic.
Actors, musicians and dancers, all deemed “unnecessary” by the French government, feel they have been sacrificed because of social distance. They are not yet sure if they will be able to revive their art in January.
– Geoffroy Clavel, HuffPost France
A sting felt by the whole world
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Everything was done in a fraction of a second.
Just before 7 a.m. in Coventry, England, Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19.
Keenan, who has lived in Coventry for more than 60 years, where she moved from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, wore a blue Christmas T-shirt to show her support for the UK national health system.
“I feel very lucky to be the first person to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” said the 90-year-old. “It's the best birthday present I could accept, as it means I can finally look forward to being with my family and friends in the new year, after a year I spent most of it alone.”
Keenan receives applause from staff at Coventry Hospital as she is being wheeled into her ward. She will soon be followed by William Shakespeare of Warwickshire, the next to get the vaccine.
There really will never be another year like 2020.
– Sarah Turnnidge, HuffPost UK
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