How the whole world will change in year 2021
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As the world prepares to bid farewell to the year 2020, one question becomes glaringly evident: What will the world look like in 2021?
Many uncertainties
The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed the 80-million mark. Fortunately, more advances in vaccine development and drug therapies are expected to bring hope to ending the deadly pandemic in the new year.
Recently, as the virus continues to ravage the globe, mass vaccination drives have started in a growing number of countries. Meanwhile, results from clinical trials in Brazil and Turkey have confirmed the efficacy of Chinese vaccines.
Yet, concerns emerged over new COVID-19 strains detected in Britain, South Africa and Nigeria.
Though many are looking forward to a vaccine as the “ultimate weapon” against the novel coronavirus, it remains unclear whether the pandemic can be effectively controlled by 2021, given uncertainties such as vaccination rates, duration of antibody protection, and new coronavirus variants. “Progress on vaccines gives us all a lift, and we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, (the) WHO is concerned that there is a growing perception that the COVID-19 pandemic is over,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a Geneva media briefing earlier this month.
The pandemic still has a long way to run, he warned.
Turbulence ahead
In the United States, after this year’s complicated presidential election, President-elect Joe Biden will take office on January 20, with the fight against the virus and economic recovery as his administration’s top priorities.
Yet, what lies ahead of the new administration is a deeply troubled and divided society.
Driven by the ravaging pandemic, economic downturn, high debts and two-party rivalry, the political battle in the country will likely drag on into the next year.
With ties between Russia and the West slumping to a new low following the Ukraine crisis, Russia’s relations with the United States and other Western nations could remain frosty in the new year considering Biden’s description of Russia as “the biggest threat” to US security.
Struggling economy
On the economic front, the pandemic has pushed the global economy into a recession. With such efforts as vaccination, the global economy is expected to gradually emerge from the shadow of the coronavirus next year, despite risks including vaccines’ uncertain effects, the resurgence of infections and a surge in debt.
In its October 2020 World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund revised up the 2020 forecast for the global economy to a contraction of 4.4 percent, a less severe contraction than the forecast in its June update.
The revision, the multilateral lender said, is “driven by second-quarter GDP outturns in large advanced economies, which were not as negative as we had projected; China’s return to growth, which was stronger than expected; and signs of a more rapid recovery in the third quarter.”
5G heat
The year 2020 is the year of large-scale 5G construction. With the gradual completion of 5G infrastructure construction in some countries, 5G applications will continue to grow in prominence in 2021, which seems to foretell the advent of a new era of “Internet of Everything.”
In the past year, 5G has accelerated its commercial launch, creating new application scenarios in various fields and gradually developing into a key cornerstone for the development of the digital economy.
In the new year, with the expansion of 5G applications, its ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency, and ultra-large connection characteristics will empower the digital transformation of industries.
Also, 5G, as industry insiders say, will efficiently connect such new infrastructures as big data centers, artificial intelligence, and industrial Internet, and advance the realization of industrial technological transformation.
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