01/28/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/28/2021 15:06 Following Year of Death, Disaster, Despair, Secretary-General Outlines Priorities for 2021, Telling General Assembly âCrisis Gives Rise to Changeâ Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks to the General Assembly's informal briefing to Member States on priorities for 2021, held today: 2020 was a global annus horribilis - a year of death, disaster and despair. The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed havoc in every country and every economy. We lost 2 million lives, including many dear members of our United Nations family. The human toll continues to multiply. The economic costs continue to mount. Five hundred million jobs - gone. Extreme poverty - back up to levels not seen in a generation. Inequalities widening. Hunger rising again. And global fragilities continue to be exposed.