TIME magazine published its traditional retrospective of the year and its cover speaks exactly what is in our minds. the 'Black year' of our lives, the year 2020 which changed the world upside down, the year which nobody wants to revisit. TIME’s Dec. 14 cover crosses out the bane of a year that is 2020 with a big red “X.” It is the latest in a long tradition saved for some of the worst foes humanity has faced in the magazine’s history.

If we go through the history of the TIME magazine it will be interesting to note that TIME has used a red “X” to cross out various things on its cover only four other times.

  • The first time was 75 years ago, in 1945, to mark the death of Adolf Hitler, and later that year, a black “X” over Japan’s rising sun marked the end of the war in the Pacific theater.

  • The second use of the “X” came in 2003. This time it crossed out Saddam Hussein at the beginning of the Iraq war.

  • The third “X” on TIME’s cover happened in 2006 when U.S. forces killed Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

  • The most recent usage of the “X” was in 2011, for the killing of Osama bin Laden.


TIME has used the iconic mark to symbolise the end of the historic year which changed everything for the next 10 years at least. Though the battle to fight against covid 19 still continues, finally the year which gave us the fear of death, loss of our loved ones, left millions jobless is coming to an end.

While the world awaits the Coronavirus vaccine, life is back on track in most countries and people have learned to live with the virus, armed with masks and sanitisers, protecting themselves and humanity.

The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 70,676,944. While 49,127,969 have recovered, 1,587,420 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 16,020,811 cases, and 299,576 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 9,796,992 cases, Brazil (6,783,543), Russia (2,569,126), France (2,337,966).