With global stocks on track to clinch their strongest monthly performance in modern history, Sunak warned that the British economy is set to contract by by more than 11% in 2020, the biggest annual contraction in 300 years - a period that has included at least one other global pandemic, and many, many wars.

It's no secret that the UK has been one of the hardest-hit developed nations. With one of the highest COVID-19 death tolls in the world, British leaders have imposed some of the harshest restrictions on movement and businesses in all of Europe.

With the UK budget deficit ballooning toward a new post-war high, the chancellor is focusing on providing support for jobs and the unemployed, plowing tens of billions of pounds into infrastructure spending, and ensuring the British health-care system is ready for another onslaught of patients.