On the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, our editor-in-chief sets out how media can help rebuild a better world beyond Covid

I remember the day, in late March 2020, when I first worried that we might not be able to publish a newspaper, for what would have been only the second time in the Guardian’s history. I had driven into the office – no one was taking the train any more. Classed as an essential worker, I was permitted to travel, but the streets were utterly silent, with every school, cafe and shop closed.

I sat down with colleagues, spaced apart by yellow tape, to work out whether we could gather enough people to produce a print edition. We could publish the digital Guardian from anywhere, but to publish the newspaper, we needed a small number of people in the office. A handful of colleagues volunteered, but I wondered how we would be able to keep everything going. People were anxious for their families and friends and themselves – and frightened, too, for what kind of world we were entering, and what we would be left with.

In a challenging year, reader support helped us get to the truth about the pandemic - and the people in charge of tackling it

• Join the million-plus people supporting independent Guardian journalism

This year was the most challenging and extraordinary for news that I can remember, and I’m sure many of you feel the same way. It affected everything about how we live, love and work and in many ways it’s changed us all forever.

At the start of the crisis, at the Guardian, we were already under considerable pressure with the decline of print newspapers and the effects of sweeping changes in the digital world. Now, with coronavirus running rampant, our offices almost empty and our newspaper retailers shuttered, we were facing another formidable blow.

Number of digital subscribers grows 60% in a year, with record 190m page views in one day on 4 November

The Guardian now has more than 1 million subscribers and regular contributors, after support from online readers grew by 43% in a year.

Figures released by Guardian News & Media on Thursday show that digital subscriptions alone grew by 60%, with total digital recurring support – a measure counting all those with a regular financial commitment – rising from 632,000 in November 2019 to 900,000 last month. There are also 119,000 print subscribers.