2021: Reflections on the pandemic

Exactly two years ago today, a short piece of medical news was reported - China informed the World Health Organisation of a number of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in the city of Wuhan. The news largely went unnoticed. But the spread of Covid would soon come to dominate all of our lives. Today the World Health Organisation has tweeted a New Year message of hope, that this pandemic will eventually end. Perhaps there are more signs of hope from South Africa where the Omicron variant was first detected, as officials there say infections appear to have passed their peak without a significant increase in deaths. Here on OS, we’ve been bringing you the latest news and developments on the pandemic and if you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that we set aside time each day to go through the latest headlines about the coronavirus and answer your questions about it with the help of a health expert. These experts have now become familiar voices on the programme, and we’ve brought together three of them to hear their reflections on the past year, and what we should expect from the next year and beyond.

Also, we are looking back to the big stories of the year and hearing from our correspondents across the world who have helped us to explain those stories for you. Today we are talking to the BBC’s Middle East Correspondent — Anna Foster, who is based in Beirut in Lebanon. Before this job she was a presenter on a news programme on the BBC's domestic radio station.

And, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and hundreds of homes have been destroyed as wildfires spread through the US state of Colorado. We'll speak to a reporter on the ground to hear what's happening.

(Heath workers pose for a photo at a private hospital for Covid-19 patients in Bangalore, India, 31 December 2021. India reported over 1,300 cases of coronavirus Omicron variant so far. Credit: EPA/JAGADEESH NV)