CORONAVIRUS │ It’s a double attack on human life and livelihood │ Coronavirus and Economic Impact

After starting from china, coronavirus has affected so many countries like Korea, Japan, the USA, Italy, Iran, France, Spain Germany, India, England, Canada and many more expected. The coronavirus has spread to 150 countries, with more than 173,000 confirmed cases and over 6,600 related deaths.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Iranian, British ministers, Idris Elba, Daniele Rugani, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Mikel Arteta, Janet Broderick so many names all are affected. No cure is available, the almost entire world is a state of isolation, bordered of every country has been sealed and the almost entire country is in quarantine as seen every school, colleges, malls, stadiums, cinema halls are empty or lockdown. A big tournament like IPL, SERIE-A, La LIGA, Champions league all are postponed and Olympic in Japan may be held back.

Everywhere is Panic and fear for future

Before the corona effect, the world faced many pandemic events like Malaria, Cholera, HIV/AIDS, SARS, MERS, EBOLA, etc. all are health emergencies. But this coronavirus has a new dimension of scared and unique things that this time world’s human life and human livelihood that people health and world economy are under threat. It’s a double attack on human civilization. Still, we don’t know where is the end and how many peoples will be lost their lives. But beyond that so many effects are coming and let's discuss one by one.

1. Economic effect

China the 2nd largest economic superpower in the world now. China is the heart of both life and economic crisis. China is the nerve center of the world economy. Therefore, the outbreak of the coronavirus has killed and infected so many, putting the brakes on China's economy. China's growth rate falls by 4.5% from 6%. With much of the country in lockdown, the virus could affect up to 42 percent of China's economy.

China is the largest production house of the world’s 28% of all kinds of goods and the largest consumers also. That means after coronavirus effects, the world’s 1/4th goods are unavailable in the world markets. So many industries and factories of the world depend on several raw materials from China. As a result, those industries would be temporarily in the lockdown stage. China consumes almost 50% of the world’s cement, steels, coals from different countries. So, if China stops buying these materials then those industries will be almost going to stand by. So, if China is not producing and consuming so much then what economic crisis and employment will happen you can assume and even, we don’t know how long this situation is going to stay.

Now, this similar situation happens all over the countries of the world. So, you can assume how long and how much economic crisis and unemployment are going to happen. Another point is that after restrictions in large gatherings, the shutdown of malls, cinema halls, schools, colleges, and other services centers, restriction in outings many people are going to jobless mainly people who work in informal sectors, daily labours, small businessman, daily hawkers, small public vehicle workers, etc.

👉 Downgrades in economic forecasts

The outbreak has led major institutions and banks to cut their forecasts for the global economy. One of the latest to do so is the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In a March report, the OECD said it downgraded its 2020 growth forecasts for almost all economies.

China’s gross domestic product growth saw the largest downgrade in terms of magnitude, according to the report. The Asian economic giant is expected to grow by 4.9% this year, slower than the earlier forecast of 5.7%, said OECD. Meanwhile, the global economy is expected to grow by 2.4% in 2020 — down from the 2.9% projected earlier, said the report.

👉 A slowdown in manufacturing activity

The manufacturing sector in China has been hit hard by the virus outbreak. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index — a survey of private companies — showed that China’s factory activity contracted in February, coming in at a record-low reading of 40.3. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. Such a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing has hurt countries with close economic links to China, many of which are Asia Pacific economies such as Vietnam, Singapore, and South Korea. 

Factories in China are taking longer than expected to resume operations, several analysts said. That, along with a rapid spread of COVID-19 outside China means that global manufacturing activity could remain subdued for longer, economists said.

👉 Services contraction

The virus outbreak in China has also hit the country’s services industry as reduced consumer spending hurt retail stores, restaurants, and aviation among others. The Caixin/Markit Services PMI for China came in at just 26.5 in February, the first drop below the 50-point level since the survey began almost 15 years ago.

👉 Stock market rout

Fear surrounding the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy has hurt investor sentiment and brought down stock prices in major markets.

2. Political impacts

Some have criticized the European Union's lack of solidarity with coronavirus-affected Italy. Politico reported that "EU countries have so far refused Italy's plea for help fighting coronavirus, as national capitals worry that they may need to stockpile face masks and other medical gear to help their own citizens, officials and diplomats said. Some experts believe this is likely in a move to protect Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping from people's anger over the coronavirus outbreak. A few countries have been using the epidemic to build political bridges with Beijing, raising accusations that these countries, which include Cambodia among others, were putting politics before health, attempting to use the outbreak to show tribute to the CCP. Existing tensions between the US and China may have delayed a coordinated effort to combat the outbreak in Wuhan.

The coronavirus outbreak in the United States may affect negatively Donald Trump's chances of re-election at the 2020 United States presidential election. European Union leaders condemned the U.S. decision to restrict travel from Europe to the United States. India’s Prime Minister leading the SAARC nations video conference about coronavirus outbreaks and its precaution and prevention founds gathering that leads the PM Modi into the strongest leader of SAARC nations.

3. Impact on education

As of 16 March, more than 510 million children and youth are not attending school because of temporary or indefinite countrywide school closures mandated by governments in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. Thirteen countries have shut schools nationwide, affecting students who would normally attend pre-primary to upper-secondary classes. Nine more countries including India have implemented localized school closures to prevent or contain COVID-19, affecting an additional 85 million school children and youth.

Learners affected by school closures caused by COVID-19 as of 16 March 2020

Even when school closures are temporary, it carries high social and economic costs. The disruptions they cause affect people across communities, but their impact is more severe for disadvantaged children and their families including interrupted learning, compromised nutrition, childcare problems and consequent economic cost to families who cannot work. In response to school closures caused by COVID-19, UNESCO recommends the use of distance learning programs and open educational applications and platforms that schools and teachers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education.

4. Cultural impacts

Another recent and rapidly accelerating fallout of the disease is the cancellation of major events in sports, the film industry, and other industries, such as music festivals and concerts, technology conferences, fashion shows, and sports. The entertainment industry has also been affected, with various music groups suspending or canceling concert tours. Many large theatres like Broadway theatre also suspended all performances. Film industries of the countries are going to huge loss as almost many big films like No Time To Die, F9 (Fast and Furious 9), Disney’s Mulan, The New Mutants, Sooryavanshi, etc. and shooting and production of so many movies and TV serials are going to stop. Consequently, so many people engaged in films and television works are going to the uncertainty of unemployment.

Several major sporting events were canceled or postponed, including the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, 2019–20 Premier League, 2019–20 NBA season, and 2019-20 NHL season. The outbreak has been a concern for the 2020 Summer Olympics which is scheduled to take place in Tokyo starting at the end of July.

5. Socio-economic impacts

The coronavirus outbreak has been attributed to several instances of supply shortages, stemming from: globally increased usage of equipment to fight the outbreaks, panic buying and disruption to the factory and logistic operations. The FDA has issued warnings about shortages to drugs and medical equipment due to increased consumer demand and supplier disruption. Several localities, such as the United States, Italy and Hong Kong, also witnessed panic buying that led to shelves being cleared of grocery essentials such as food, toilet paper, and bottled water, inducing supply shortages. The technology industry, in particular, has been warning about delays to shipments of electronic goods. According to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom, the demand for personal protection equipment has risen 100-fold and this demand has led to the increase in prices of up to twenty times the normal price and also induced delays on the supply of medical items for four to six months. This has also caused a shortage of personal protective equipment worldwide, with the WHO warning that this will endanger health workers.

Tourism is one of the worst affected sectors due to a sharp fall in tourists from mainland China and travel advisories warning against travel to parts of Central China, Italy, South Korea, and Iran. As a consequence, numerous airlines have canceled flights due to lower demand, including British Airways, China Eastern and Qantas, while British regional airline Flybe collapsed. Globally, the airline industry is set to lose $29bn, according to the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). Huge losses in the travel and tourism sectors all over the world.

Disclaimer
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Information on this site is purely for educational purposes. The materials used and displayed on the Sites, including text, photographs, graphics, illustrations and artwork, video, music and sound, and names, logos, IS Codes, are copyrighted items of respective owners. GEOFacts is not responsible and liable for information shared above and does not claim any copyright ownership.

Reference Sources │ CNBC │ BBC │ Aljazeera │ American Progress │ NEW YORK POST │ Wikipedia