COVID-19, pandemic and lockdown: How 2020 changed the world In the last 12 months, the novel coronavirus has paralysed economies, devastated communities and confined nearly four billion people to their homes. It has been a year that changed the world like no other for at least a generation, possibly since World War II. An information poster on the wearing of face masks and social distancing measures as well as the ban of alcoholic beverages during certain hours during the novel coronavirus pandemic is seen in the city of Nuremberg, southern Germany, on 28 October 2020. Picture: AFP 86 days ago PARIS - When the world celebrated the dawn of a new decade with a blaze of firework parties and revelry on 1 January, few could have imagined what 2020 had in store.