The year 2020 has indeed been one of a kind. While it’s been just 173 days since the start of this year, the world has witnessed more surprises and shocking instances than in the whole decade. And it would be safe to say that of these shocking or surprising instances, only a handful of them have been pleasant. From spotting extra-terrestrial objects to a pandemic after a century, this year only seems to worsen with every passing day. And most of us probably wake up thinking Oh My God, what is it that’s going to happen today.
And the analysis by a few people that the Mayan calendar’s prediction of the end of the world could be the year 2020 and not 2021 didn’t cut us any slack either. According to this theory, the world lost eight years when they moved to the gregorian calendar, and that means we are currently in the year 2012. That shouldn’t be good news, right? Well, whatever it is, the world is truly throwing us a lot of surprises our way. And here’s a glimpse at the five most shocking instances from the year 2020!
COVID- 19
Well, this is the most apparent event of 2020. And it is almost impossible to talk about this year without making a mention of the pandemic. The first few cases of the COVID-19 pandemic infection were in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since then, the virus spread across the globe, and the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic in February 2020.
The virus spread has that’s put the world on halt. Everyone is in lockdown, and people are working from home, while children are studying from home. These past few months, the cases are only increasing and claiming many lives across the world.
The Australian Bushfire
The Australian bushfires started on January 30 owing to very very hot weather. The fire was on for several months and claimed the lives of numerous animals. Australia is home to several unique species of animals and birds, and it was painful to see the internet fill up with images of these animals battling for their lives. The smoke from this fire went up to 19 miles in the sky. This was creating an impact similar to a nuclear blast.
According to the official reports, the bushfires have pushed Koala bears into the category of endangered species by claiming the lives of around a thousand koalas. The bushfires ended up destroying over 6.03 million acres of land. However, there’s one good news that has emerged over the days in terms of animals and the bushfire. An endangered species of Australian mouse seems to have survived this bushfire.
The UFO Sightings
Right when we thought that the world could not get any weird, the year 2020 took everyone by surprise all over again! It was towards the last week of April that the US army confirmed spotting “unidentified flying objects.” The US Department of Defense made an open statement and released a few videos that confirm the existence of UFOs. The video was shot by US Navy pilots who found some airborne heat-emitting objects that had no wings, fuselage, or exhaust.
This came across as a shocker because, despite numerous claims of UFO citings in the past, there was never an official confirmation. However, it was on April 27, 2020, that Pentagon made this shocking official statement! The video is available on the Youtube handles of numerous news websites for everyone to watch.
Well, these were just a handful of instances from the first half of 2020 that left the world in a state of shock. Over the past six months, the world also saw so many heartbreaking incidents. Ukrainian flight crashed, claiming numerous lives, Iran’s ballistic missiles injuring American soldiers, Kobe, and Gigi Bryant dying in a helicopter crash. Besides that, there were also issues like Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex stepping away from their royal duties, and The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union, The 2020 Summer Olympics are not happening. And these are just a few.
After all these sad and heartbreaking incidents, one could only hope that things get better. As we edge closer to the first half of 2020, we can only hope that the second half gets relatively better. At this point, one could only hope that the days ahead will be full of positive news, including a cure for the COVID virus.