World Press Photo: ‘Finding love even in the most dark hour’

A picture of a hug during the coronavirus pandemic has been named World Press Photo of the Year.

The image shows an 85-year-old Brazilian woman at a care home getting her first embrace in five months through a transparent hug curtain.

The winner of the World Press Photo of the Year, Mads Nissen, told BBC World News that he was covering the coronavirus crisis in Brazil which has been one of the countries most affected by the crisis.

“I was photographing the graveyards, the cemeteries where people were mourning, hospitals, the ambulances, but I also felt there was need for a different kind of picture,” he said.

He wanted a picture which could show “this certain Latin American spirit to fight and find love even in the most dark hour".

Brazil has the second highest death toll in the world from Covid-19.

The country’s President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the virus, but has recently turned his focus to a nationwide vaccination drive.