Effect of covid-19 on the global economy

COVID-19 is not only a global pandemic and public health crisis; it has also severely affected the global economy and financial markets. Significant reductions in income, a rise in unemployment, and disruptions in the transportation, service, and manufacturing industries are among the consequences of the disease mitigation measures that have been implemented in many countries. It has become clear that most governments in the world underestimated the risks of rapid COVID-19 spread and were mostly reactive in their crisis response. As disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international actions are required to not only save lives but also protect economic prosperity.

Covid-19 and the Economy

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic, pointing to over 3 million cases and 207,973 deaths in 213 countries and territories . The infection has not only become a public health crisis but has also affected the global economy. Significant economic impact has already occurred across the globe due to reduced productivity, loss of life, business closures, trade disruption, and decimation of the tourism industry. COVID-19 may be that a “wake-up” call for global leaders to intensify cooperation on epidemic preparedness and provide the necessary financing for international collective action. There has been ample information on the expected economic and health costs of infectious disease outbreaks, but the world has failed to adequately invest in preventive and preparedness measures to mitigate the risks of large epidemics.

With globalization, urbanization, and environmental change, infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics have become global threats requiring a collective response. Although the majority of developed countries, predominantly European and North American, have strong real-time surveillance and health systems to manage infectious disease spread, improvements in public health capacity in low-income and high-risk countries—including human and animal surveillance, workforce preparedness, and strengthening laboratory resources—need to be supported by using national resources supplemented with international donor funding. International collective action among governments, non-government organizations, and private companies has been advocated in building and financing technological platforms to accelerate the research on and development response to new pathogens with epidemic potential . In the case of COVID-19, such cooperation is critical, especially for the development and production of a vaccine. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global partnership launched in 2017, has tracked global efforts in COVID-19 vaccine development activity and is advocating for strong international cooperation to ensure that vaccine, when developed, will be manufactured in sufficient quantities and that equitable access will be provided to all nations regardless of ability to pay . Furthermore, affected countries may benefit from exchanging technological innovations in contact tracing, such as health Quick Response (QR) codes, to manage the outbreak more effectively. However, there are important privacy implications that need to be considered. In the case of COVID-19, the collective response and adoption of preventive measures to stop the global spread were implemented too late, after COVID-19 had already penetrated other regions through international travel. presents the dynamics of confirmed COVID-19 cases and shows that large countries in Europe (e.g., Italy, Germany, and the UK) and the U.S. have already outnumbered China, the origin of epidemic, in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.