Portal:Current events/2021 March 20

March 20, 2021 (Saturday)

Arts and culture

The Vatican announces that Pope Francis has designated the Archdiocese of Quito in Ecuador as the host of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress. (Catholic News Agency)

Disasters and accidents

March 2021 Miyagi earthquake
- A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, causing tsunami waves of up to 1 metre (3.3 ft). As a precaution, Tohoku Electric Power shuts down the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant and Tokyo Electric Power Company checks the condition of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was struck by the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. (DW)
The Australian state of New South Wales is battered by a storm, causing flooding in various towns and parts of Sydney. (ABC Australia)

Health and environment

COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  - COVID-19 pandemic in India
    - India reports 40,953 new cases in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day total since November 29, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 11,555,284. (Hindustan Times)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
    - Prime Minister Imran Khan tests positive for COVID-19, two days after being vaccinated. (Dawn)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
    - The Philippines reports a new record for the second consecutive day of 7,999 confirmed cases, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 656,056. (The Straits Times)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
  - COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom
    - The United Kingdom reports a new single-day record of 711,156 doses of the vaccine administered. (BBC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
  - COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
    - Florida surpasses two million cases of COVID-19, becoming the third U.S. state to do so after California and Texas. (The Hill)
    - Miami Beach imposes a curfew due to crowds on spring break. It will take effect beginning at 8:00 p.m. (ABC News)
  - COVID-19 pandemic in New York, Lineage P.1
    - New York reports its first case of the Lineage P.1 variant, which was originally detected in Brazil. The patient is a Brooklyn woman in her 90s in Mount Sinai Hospital who had no travel history. (NBC News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Chile
  - Chile reports a record 7,084 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 925,089. (Globe Live Media)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea
  - Richard Mendani becomes the first incumbent member of the National Parliament to die from COVID-19. (PNG Facts)

Politics and elections

2021 United States House of Representatives elections
- 2021 Louisiana's 2nd congressional district special election, 2021 Louisiana's 5th congressional district special election
  - Voters head to the polls to vote on who will represent Louisiana's 2nd and 5th congressional districts. (The Washington Post)
  - Julia Letlow, the wife of late Representative-elect Luke Letlow, wins the special election to the 5th congressional district, thereby becoming Louisiana's first female Republican Representative. The special election to the 2nd congressional district will head to an April 24 runoff between the top two finishers Troy Carter and Karen Carter Peterson. (CNN)

Sports

2020 Summer Olympics, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020 Summer Olympics
- The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games announces that overseas spectators will be banned from entry to Japan to watch the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics due to risk of spread of COVID-19. (The Japan Times)