In Pictures

News|Coronavirus pandemic

How the world grappled with the pandemic a year ago

Here’s a look at photographs taken last March just about the time the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington on Tuesday, March 10, 2020, about the coronavirus outbreak as Vice President Mike Pence gestures to a display. Also on stage from left are US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Pence, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Dr Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, and Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo]
Published On 10 Mar 2021

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To look at year-old photographs is to revisit a world divided. There were places where life had already been short-circuited by a raging plague – and others where it was just becoming apparent that the monster was in the house.

In Madrid, store shelves are empty as residents prepare for a lockdown. The gates are locked to the Forbidden City in Beijing, guarded by masked guards. A single Palestinian workman sprays disinfectant at the al-Omari mosque in Gaza City.

But in retrospect, a photo of a COVID-19 briefing by Dr Anthony Fauci, Vice President Mike Pence and other health advisers on March 10 – a day before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic – is a study in obliviousness. Eight people crowd the podium. None wears a mask.

So many of the photographs feature unadorned faces, and to 2021 eyes it is jarring. Is it possible that three Gonzaga University basketball players, celebrating a victory over St Mary’s in the NCAA tournament, could hug barefaced? That members of Congress could crowd into elevators? That Indian revellers could dance rapturously in the streets on Holi, the Hindu festival of colours?

Journalists jammed together to question lawyers for Harvey Weinstein after his sentencing for rape and sexual assault; demonstrators clashed with police in Caracas, Venezuela. But in that very moment, teams garbed in protective equipment, head to foot, set out to disinfect the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak in that state.

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The divide can be seen in Champions League games across Europe – some were played before fans, and some were not for fear of spreading the disease. A full stadium was on hand to watch Kieran Trippier’s acrobatic shot for Atletico Madrid in Liverpool, England; there were fireworks but no crowd at the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund in Paris.

And in Linz, Austria, a lone, ghostlike fan wore a sheet and stood amid the empty seats.

A shopper holds an item surrounded by mostly empty shelves in a supermarket in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. People emptied shelves of food and supplies in supermarkets in Madrid after Spain's health minister announced a sharp spike in coronavirus cases in and around the national capital. [Manu Fernandez/AP Photo]
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Workers from a Servpro disaster recovery team wearing protective suits and respirators enter the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, to begin cleaning and disinfecting the facility, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, near Seattle. The nursing home was at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in Washington state. [Ted S. Warren/AP Photo]
Few people walk at the Naviglio Grande canal, one of the favourite spots for night life in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Italy entered its second day under a nationwide lockdown after a government decree extended restrictions on movement from the hard-hit north to the rest of the country to prevent the spread of coronavirus. [Antonio Calanni/AP Photo]
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by his wife, Jill, arrives to speak to members of the press at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 10, 2020. [Matt Rourke/AP Photo]
Trader Michael Gallucci works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Stocks closed sharply lower on Wall Street, erasing more than 1,400 points from the Dow industrials, as investors waited for a more aggressive response from the US government to economic fallout from the coronavirus. [Richard Drew/AP Photo]
Defence attorney Donna Rotunno meets the press outside the courthouse after Harvey Weinstein's sentencing, in New York on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. [Mark Lennihan/AP Photo]
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House Democrats crowded into a lift as they rushed to the chamber for a vote just after meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who was moving swiftly towards House passage of a coronavirus aid package on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. [J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo]
An Indian medical officer offers hand sanitiser to a child during an awareness campaign against the coronavirus at a train station in Bangalore on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. [Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo]
Tourists take in the view from the Edge, the new observation deck on the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards in New York on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Edge is touted as the Western Hemisphere's highest outdoor sky deck. [Kevin Hagen/AP Photo]
Indian revellers, their faces smeared with coloured powder, dance during celebrations to mark Holi, the Hindu festival of colours in Prayagraj city on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. This exuberant festival originally held to celebrate the fertility of the land, is also associated with the immortal love of Hindu God Krishna and Radha. [Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo]
A patient is prepared for surgery at a hospital in Idlib, Syria, on March 12, 2020. Idlib city was the last urban area still under opposition control. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Palestinian health workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus in the al-Omari mosque in Gaza City on Thursday, March 12, 2020. [Khalil Hamra/AP Photo]
PSG supporters gather outside the Parc des Princes stadium during a Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund in Paris on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. [Christophe Ena/AP Photo]
Two women take a selfie with Olympic rings in the background in the Odaiba section of Tokyo on Thursday, March 12, 2020. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike spoke on Thursday after the World Health Organization labelled the spreading virus a "pandemic," a decision almost certain to affect the Tokyo Olympics. The Olympics were delayed and now are expected to be held in July. [Jae C. Hong/AP Photo]
Atletico Madrid's Kieran Trippier attempts a shot at goal in front of Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold during a second leg, round of 16, Champions League soccer match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at a packed Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. [Jon Super/AP Photo]
A man dressed as a ghost stands on the empty tribune prior to the Europa League round of 16 first leg soccer match between Linzer ASK and Manchester United in Linz, Austria, on Thursday, March 12, 2020. The match is being played in an empty stadium because of the coronavirus outbreak. [Kerstin Joensson/AP Photo]
Soldiers wearing protective face masks march past the closed entrance gates to the Forbidden City, usually crowded with tourists before the coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, on Thursday, March 12, 2020. [Andy Wong/AP Photo]
A woman walks in front of a stage and carousel at Pier 39 in San Francisco, Thursday, March 12, 2020. [Jeff Chiu/AP Photo]
President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office about the coronavirus outbreak at the White House, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. [Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo]