The 2020 World Expo in Dubai begins. Its opening was originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Expo 2020 was a World Expo hosted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai. It is located on a creek on the south-eastern coast of the Persian Gulf. As of 2025, the city population stands at 4 million, 92% of whom are expatriates. The wider urban area includes Sharjah and has a population of 5 million people as of 2023, while the Dubai–Sharjah–Ajman metropolitan area counts 6 million inhabitants.

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Soon after, it spread to other areas of Asia, and then worldwide in early 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, and assessed the outbreak as having become a pandemic on 11 March.

October 1 is the 274th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 91 days remain until the end of the year.