UFO sightings in US rose sharply during the pandemic, data reveals

New Delhi, India

Reports of UFO sightings increased tremendously during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).

According to NUFORC, UFO sightings across the US increased by about 1,000 during 2020 when compared to 2019.

The total number of sighting in 2020 stood at over 7,200 with the highest spike recorded in the US state of New York, where the sightings almost doubled. The jump in sightings may be due to a lot of people staying in during the pandemic, and many leaving cities for more open spaces to get away from the virus, as reported by the New York Times.

Most of the sightings were reported in last March and April, when lockdown measures across the country remained the strictest. New York City also peculiarly witnessed a spike in sightings. Sightings of UFOs or Unidentified Flying Objects in NYC this went up by 31 per cent in 2020 from 2019. 46 such objects were spotted in the skies of the city, compared to 35 such sightings in 2019.

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Last year, the Pentagon released declassified videos of “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) which was recorded by Navy pilots during training, reviving global interest in UFOs.

Following up on this, the US Department of Defence in a statement said that the objects continue to remain “unidentified”.

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In August 2020, the Pentagon announced plans to establish an “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force” with the goal to “detect, analyze, and catalog” unidentified objects that could pose a threat to US national security.

Former US President Donald Trump in 2020 had signed a coronavirus relief funding package into law. This included a provision for federal agencies to create a report on UAPs by June 2021.