In 2020, the couple announced their intention to step back as senior members of the royal family. Following a decision to step back from royal duties, she and her husband have agreed that they will not use the style "Royal Highness" from early 2020, although they will still retain them.
Trump also ordered a targeted U.S. airstrike on January 2, 2020, which killed Iranian Major General and IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other people. Trump publicly threatened to attack Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliated; such an attack by the U.S. would violate international law.
In 2020, several American corporations and educational institutions including Twitter, the National Football League, Nike, announced that they would treat Juneteenth as a company holiday, providing a paid day off to their workers, and Google Calendar added Juneteenth to its US Holidays calendar.
On 4 January, a funeral procession for Soleimani was held in Baghdad with thousands of mourners in attendance, waving Iraqi and militia flags and chanting "death to America, death to Israel". The procession started at the Al-Kadhimiya Mosque in Baghdad. Iraq's prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, and leaders of Iran-backed militias attended the funeral procession. Soleimani's remains were taken to the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf.
On 4 January, a funeral procession for Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Soleimani was held in Baghdad with thousands of mourners in attendance, waving Iraqi and militia flags and chanting "death to America, death to Israel". The procession started at the Al-Kadhimiya Mosque in Baghdad. Iraq's prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, and leaders of Iran-backed militias attended the funeral procession.
On 6 January, the body of Soleimani and other casualties arrived at the Iranian capital Tehran. Huge crowds, reportedly hundreds of thousands or millions, packed the streets. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who had a close relationship with Soleimani, led the traditional Islamic prayer for the dead, weeping at one point in front of the flag-draped coffins.
On January 7, 2020, OnePlus unveiled the Concept One smartphone at CES 2020. The OnePlus Concept One uses electrochromic glass to “hide” the rear-facing camera setup. The glass of the phone uses organic particles to create changes in transparency so that the glass covering the camera lenses can instantly shift from opaque black to transparent, presenting a clean, unbroken surface when not in use. OnePlus calls it a manifest of its ‘burdenless’ design philosophy. This optimal solution is called ‘Electronic CMF.' The rest of the design is inspired by the McLaren 720S supercar, with Papaya Orange leather on the rear of this concept phone and a sliver of glass right down the center of the rear panel of the device.
On 13 January 2020, Syrian Minister of Defense, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, presented the medal of "The Champion of the Syrian Arab Republic", which President Bashar Al-Assad granted posthumously to Qassem Soleimani, to his Iranian counterpart, Amir Hatami.
In January 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they were stepping back from their role as senior members of the royal family, and would balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America. The couple also said that they would seek financial independence while continuing to support their charities and the Queen.
By 2020, Black History Month had become a focus beyond schools. The Wall Street Journal describes it as "a time when the culture and contributions of African Americans take center stage" in a variety of cultural institutions including theaters, libraries and museums.
On 17 January, a research group from the Imperial College London in the United Kingdom published a report that there had been 1,723 cases (95% confidence interval, 427–4,471) with the onset of symptoms by 12 January. This was based on the pattern of the initial spread to Thailand and Japan. They also concluded that "self-sustaining human-to-human transmission should not be ruled out", which has since been confirmed. As further cases came to light, they later recalculated that there may be 4,000 symptomatic cases of 2019-nCoV in Wuhan City by 18 January (uncertainty range of 1,000 to 9,700). A Hong Kong University group has reached a similar conclusion as the earlier study, with additional detail on transport within China.
On January 17, 2020, Mathers released another surprise album Music To Be Murdered By, following his Kamikaze, which features guest appearances by: Young M.A., Royce Da 5'9", Q-Tip, Denaun, White Gold, Ed Sheeran, Juice WRLD, Skylar Grey, Anderson Paak, Don Toliver, Kxng Crooked, Joell Ortiz and Black Thought.
The virus spread to other Chinese provinces in early and mid-January 2020, helped by the Chinese new year migration. On 20 January, China reported a sharp rise in cases with nearly 140 new patients, including two people in Beijing and one in Shenzhen.
In Asia, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam have also responded with border tightening/closures with mainland China. On 22 January 2020, North Korea closed its borders to international tourists to prevent the spread of the virus into the country. Chinese visitors make up the bulk of foreign tourists to North Korea.
On January 22, 2020, the Republican Senate majority rejected amendments proposed by the Democratic minority to call witnesses and subpoena documents; evidence collected during the House impeachment proceedings will be entered into the Senate record automatically unless objected to on a case-by-case basis.
For the three days, January 22–24, the impeachment managers for the House presented their case to the Senate. They cited evidence to support charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and asserted that Trump's actions were exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when they included an impeachment process in the Constitution. The Trump legal team argued that the impeachment was "constitutionally and legally invalid" because Trump was not charged with a crime and that abuse of power is not an impeachable offense, and thus the president should be immediately acquitted. They did not deny the facts as presented in the charges, but stated that Trump had not broken any laws or obstructed Congress.
The withdrawal agreement received the backing of the constitutional committee in the European Parliament on 23 January, setting expectation that the entire parliament would approved it in a later vote.
On 23 January 2020, a quarantine on travel in and out of Wuhan was imposed in an effort to stop the spread of the virus out of Wuhan. Flights, trains, public buses, the metro system, and long-distance coaches were suspended indefinitely. Large-scale gatherings and group tours were also suspended.
On 23 January 2020, the number of reported confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV has increased by 267 cases since the last situation report published on 22 January 2020. As of 23 January, China reported cases in 25 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). Twenty-five percent of confirmed cases reported by China have been classified by Chinese health authorities as seriously ill (from Wubei Province: (16% severely ill, 5% critically ill, and 4% having died).
A specialty hospital named Huoshenshan Hospital has been constructed as a countermeasure against the outbreak and to better quarantine the patients. Wuhan City government had demanded that a state-owned enterprise construct such a hospital "at the fastest speed" comparable to that of the SARS outbreak in 2003. On 24 January, Wuhan authorities specified its planning, saying they planned to have Huoshenshan Hospital built within six days of the announcement and it will be ready to use on 3 February. Upon opening, the specialty hospital has 1,000 beds and takes up 30,000 square meters. The hospital is modeled after the Xiaotangshan Hospital, which was fabricated for the SARS outbreak of 2003, itself built in only seven days. State media reported that there were 7,000 workers and nearly 300 units of construction machinery on the site at peak.
Additional provinces and cities outside of Hubei imposed travel restrictions. Beijing suspended all Intercity bus services on 25 January, with several others following suit. Shanghai, Tianjin, Shandong, Xi'an, and Sanya all announced suspension of intercity or inter-province bus services on 26 January.
On 26 January, the city of Shantou in Guangdong declared a partial lockdown, though this was reversed two hours later. This created chaos, as residents rushed to supermarkets to stock food as soon as the lockdown was declared until the authorities reversed their decision. Caixin said, that the wording of Shantou's initial declaration was "unprecedentedly strict" and will severely affect residents' lives if implemented as-is. Shantou's Department for Outbreak Control later clarified, that they will not restrict traveling, and all they would do, is to sterilize vehicles used for transportation. A total of 2,014 confirmed 2019-nCoV cases have been reported globally reported by the WHO.
At 9:06 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter departed from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, with nine people aboard: Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, six family friends and the pilot. The helicopter was registered to the Fillmore-based Island Express Holding Corp., according to the California Secretary of State business database. The group was traveling to a basketball game at Bryant's Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks.
At 9:45 a.m. the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and caught on fire. Bryant, his daughter, and the other seven occupants were killed. This also started a quarter-acre bush fire. At 9:47 a.m. authorities were called. Personnel from the Los Angeles County Fire Department attended the scene, and paramedics rappelled from a helicopter to the scene to look for survivors. The fire was difficult to extinguish due to the presence of magnesium, but the fire had been extinguished by 10:30 a.m. Initial reports indicated that the helicopter crashed in the hills above Calabasas in a heavy fog. Witnesses reported hearing a helicopter struggling before crashing.
On January 27, 2020, Atari announced a deal with GSD Group to build Atari Hotels, with the first breaking ground in Phoenix in mid-2020. Additional hotels were also planned in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. The company plans to make the hotel experience immersive while catering to all ages, including the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies.
On 27 and 28 January 2020, Xiangyang respectively closed its railway stations and suspended all ferry operations, after shutting down its airport and intercity bus services earlier. Thus, the entire Hubei province entered a city-by-city quarantine, save for the Shennongjia Forestry District. WHO reported on that day that the confirmed casa has increased by 784 cases since the last report and the death count has increased by 24 cases
On 27 January 2020, the United States CDC issued updated travel guidance for China, recommending that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to all of the country. The CDC has directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to check individuals for symptoms of the coronavirus.
On January 28, Bryant's identity was officially confirmed using fingerprints. The following day the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner stated that the official cause of death for him and the eight others on the helicopter was blunt force trauma.
In January 2020, The Guardian reported that the hack was initiated before the murder but after Khashoggi wrote critically about the crown prince in the Washington Post. Forensic analysis of Bezos's mobile phone conducted by advisory firm FTI Consulting concluded it "highly probable" that the hack was achieved using a malicious file hidden in a video sent in a WhatsApp message to Bezos from the personal account of the crown prince on May 1, 2018. Saudi Arabia has denied the claim.
The European Parliament gave its consent to ratification on 29 January by the votes 621 to 49. Immediately after voting approval, members of the European Parliament joined hands and sang Auld Lang Syne. The Council of the European Union concluded EU ratification the following day.
On the 29th of Jan, the WHO confirmed that the number of infected cases has dramatically increased to reach 6065 cases globally over 98% of them are in China and the rest are spread over 15 countries, and 132 death case.
On 29 January 2020, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and the Vodafone Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the sale of Vodafone's entire 55 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt to STC. With the sale, Vodafone will be exiting Egypt (as a telecom operator) as the rest of the 45 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt is owned by Telecom Egypt. Telecom Egypt has said that it has no plans to sell its stake.
Citing 7736 cases essentially in China and 82 cases abroad across 18 countries as of 30 January, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January.
On 30 January 2020, following confirmation of human-to-human transmission outside of China and the increase in number of cases in other countries, the WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the sixth PHEIC since the measure was first invoked during the 2009 Swine flu pandemic. Tedros clarified that the PHEIC, in this case, was "not a vote of no confidence in China", but because of the risk of global spread, especially to low- and middle-income countries without robust health systems.
Outside Mainland China, some cruise ships were quarantined after passengers developed symptoms or tested positive for 2019-nCoV. The Costa Smeralda was quarantined on 30 January off Civitavecchia in Italy, after passengers developed flu-like symptoms – the quarantine was lifted when tests for the virus came back negative. Two further ships were quarantined on 5 February: Diamond Princess in the Port of Yokohama, Japan and World Dream, which returned to Hong Kong after being refused entry to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In both cases, passengers and crew tested positive and the ships remained quarantined as of 6 February.
On 31 January 2020, Italy closed all passenger air traffic between Italy and China and Taiwan. The Italian Civil Aviation Authority NOTAM says that effective 31 January, all passenger flights from China, including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwan are suspended until further notice, on request of the Italian health authorities. Aircraft that were flying to Italy when the NOTAM was published, was cleared to land. On the same day, the WHO declared that the number of infected cases is 9826 and 213 confirmed death case
On 31 January 2020, an article in The Lancet estimated that 75,815 individuals (95% CrI 37,304–130,330) have been infected in Wuhan as of 25 January, with an estimated doubling time of 6.4 days in the period of study.
On 1 February Huanggang, Hubei implemented a measure whereby only one person from each household is permitted to go outside for provisions once every two days, except for medical reasons or to work at shops or pharmacies. Many cities, districts, and counties across mainland China implemented similar measures in the days following, including Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Harbin, and the whole of Jiangxi Province.
Kenin opened the 2020 seasons by playing the Premier-level events at Brisbane and Adelaide, falling in the second round of both tournaments to Osaka and compatriot Danielle Collins respectively. She also played doubles with Mattek-Sands in Adelaide, but the pair fell in the semifinals to the eventual champions Nicole Melichar and Xu Yifan. Seeded 14th at the Australian Open, Kenin recorded straight-set wins over qualifiers Martina Trevisan and compatriot Ann Li to reach the third round for the first time. She then overcame a double break deficit in the first set to defeat 2016 quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai and advance to the fourth round, where she defeated Coco Gauff to reach the quarterfinals. Kenin went on to defeat Ons Jabeur in straight sets, advancing to her first semifinal at a Grand Slam championship. She then defeated the top seed Ashleigh Barty in straight sets to reach the final, where she defeated Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets to claim the trophy. Eventually, she entered the Top ten worldwide by ranking 7th on Feb 3, 2020.
On 2 February, the WHO declared there was a "massive infodemic" accompanying the outbreak and response, citing an over-abundance of reported information, accurate and false, about the virus that "makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it." The WHO stated that the high demand for timely and trustworthy information has incentivized the creation of a direct WHO 24/7 myth-busting hotline where its communication and social media teams have been monitoring and responding to misinformation through its website and social media pages.
On February 4, 2020, at the conclusion of President Trump's State of the Union, Pelosi tore up her official copy of his speech. Her stated reason for doing so was "because it was a courteous thing to do considering the alternatives. It was a such a dirty speech." She was criticized for this by President Trump and Republicans.
On 4 February 2020, two more cities in Zhejiang province restricted the movement of residents. The city of Taizhou, three Hangzhou districts, and some in Ningbo began to only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said. More than 12 million people are affected by the new restrictions.
On February 5, Trump was acquitted of both charges in a vote nearly along party lines, with Republican Mitt Romney being the only senator – and the first senator in U.S. history – to cross party lines by voting to convict on one of the charges.
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Zara was hit hard by global store closures, with sales falling 44% year-on-year in Q1 2020 and the company reporting a net loss of USD 482 million. Inditex has announced it will close between 1,000 and 1,200 stores across the world, concentrating on the smaller ones in Asia and Europe. Although online sales have been motivating – Zara 's online sales have risen 50% for Q1 2020 – mitigating the damage is not enough.
On 8 February 2020, it was announced that a Japanese and an American died due to the virus in Wuhan. They are the first foreigners killed by the virus. By that day the WHO announced the confirmed cases is now 34 886 cases and the number of deaths is 724.
In February 2020, Xerox announced the hiring of Tali Rosman as VP of Xerox's 3D business. She joins Xerox from NICE, where she was vice president and head of business operations for the Americas. She will report to CTO Naresh Shanker.
On 12 February, the Hubei government adopted a broader definition of confirmed cases, which now includes clinically diagnosed patients diagnosed by their symptoms and CT scans but without a nucleic acid test, which can take days to process and delay treatment. "Using CT scans that reveal lung infection would help patients receive treatment as soon as possible and improve their chances of recovery," the provincial health commission said. This new methodology accounts for the sharp increase in Hubei's daily confirmed cases: 13,332 of the 14,840 newly confirmed cases in the province on 12 February were diagnosed clinically under the new definition.
The Lombardy outbreak came to light when a 38-year-old Italian tested positive in Codogno, a comune in the province of Lodi. According to his wife, he had met an Italian friend who had returned from China on 21 January, who subsequently tested negative. On 14 February, he felt unwell and went to a doctor in Castiglione d'Adda. He was prescribed treatments for influenza.
In February 2020 Forbes noted that "much of corporate America is commemorating" Black History Month including The Coca-Cola Company, Google, Target Corporation, Macy's, United Parcel Service and Under Armour.
Egypt reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on the 15th of February. This is the second country in the WHO EMRO region to confirm a case and the first reported case from the African continent. WHO was informed by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population.
On 16 February, as the 38-year-old man's condition worsened, he went to Codogno Hospital, reporting respiratory problems. Initially, there was no suspicion of COVID-19, so no additional precautionary measures were taken, and the virus was able to infect other patients and health workers. Later, the patient, his pregnant wife, and a friend tested positive. Three more cases were confirmed on the same day after the patients reported symptoms of pneumonia. Thereafter, extensive screenings and checks were performed on everyone that had possibly been in contact or near the infected subjects.
In February 2020, Trump publicly implied that the flu was more dangerous than COVID-19 and asserted that the outbreak in the U.S. was "very much under control" and would soon be over, yet he told Bob Woodward at the time that COVID-19 was "deadly", "more deadly than even your strenuous flu", and "tricky" to handle due to its airborne transmission. In March 2020, Trump privately told Woodward, "I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic." Trump's comments to Woodward were made public in September 2020.
The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784), in the American Revolutionary War and the first President of the United States (1789–1797). Located almost due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial, the monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world's tallest predominantly stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 554 feet 7 11⁄32 inches (169.046 m) tall according to the U.S. National Geodetic Survey (measured 2013–14) or 555 feet 5 1⁄8 inches (169.294 m) tall according to the National Park Service (measured 1884). It is the tallest monumental column in the world if all are measured above their pedestrian entrances. Overtaking the Cologne Cathedral, it was the tallest structure in the world between 1884 and 1889, after which it was overtaken by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
On 25 February, the WHO declared that "the world should do more to prepare for a possible coronavirus pandemic," stating that while it was still too early to call it a pandemic, countries should nonetheless be "in a phase of preparedness." In response to a developing case of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, the WHO has sent a Joint Mission Team there on the same day to assess the situation in the country.
On February 25, 2020, Netflix formed partnerships with six Japanese creators to produce an original Japanese anime project. This partnership include manga creator group CLAMP, mangaka Shin Kibayashi, mangaka Yasuo Ohtagaki, novelist and film director Otsuichi, novelist Tow Ubutaka, and manga creator Mari Yamazaki.
The Ministry of Health announced new guidelines for reporting cases on 27 February in response to the previous blanket testing that caused case numbers to surge and inflamed public panic. It would no longer report asymptomatic cases (swabs taken from patients which tested positive but were not showing symptoms) which counted as 40 to 50% of all reported cases at the time. These people would undergo isolation at home and would be followed up with new tests until they were negative.