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Welcome to the Guardian Long Read, showcasing the best long-form journalism covering culture,

politics and new thinking. For the text version of this and all our long reads,

go to theguardian.com forward slash long read.

The United States precisely a year later, the world was shaken by a disease that in the space

of 12 months killed more than 2.2 million people and rendered tens of millions severely ill.

Today the official death toll stands at 4.51 million.

The likely figure for excess deaths is more than twice that number.

The virus disrupted the daily routine of virtually everyone on the planet,

stopped much of public life, closed schools, separated families, interrupted travel and

appended the world economy. To contain the fallout, government support for households,

businesses and markets took on dimensions not seen outside wartime.

It was not just by far the sharpest economic recession experience since the Second World War,

it was qualitatively unique. Never before had there been a collective decision,

however haphazard and uneven, to shut large parts of the world's economy down.

...