As we all know, Covid-19, colloquially known as Covid has been the buzz since the early part of 2020. On December 31, 2019, China reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) that there was a cluster of cases of an unknown pneumonia in its city of Wuhan in the Hebei Province. It was later determined that these cases of unknown pneumonia were caused by a novel coronavirus. Later studies showed that the virus was actually prevalent in China from as back as September 2019. The coronavirus was officially named COVID-19 by the WHO on February 11, 2020. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The cause of this pandemic is still unknown and under investigation.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC: The COVID-19 pandemic has become the greatest challenge our world has faced since the Second World War. It has fundamentally changed the way we live. Many
people had to stay home and do their work. Students had to attend classes virtually and thus were deprived a year of their precious campus life. Graduations, which is supposed to be one of the memorable events of anyone’s life, were also done virtually. People could not go to restaurants, tourist attractions, and sporting events. The chants of ‘Roll Tide’ and ‘Go War Eagles’ had to be confined to four walls for most part. The traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas festivals were greeted with mute celebrations. The pandemic has infected over 100 million people and has caused over two million deaths worldwide. The virus has caused about 400 million job losses and economic recession has hit all five continents. It has caused 24 million children to be out of school worldwide. This virus first reported from Wuhan has cost the world 16 trillion dollars in 2020. The travel and tourism industry fell by 42.1%. Passenger aviation is estimated to have lost $314 billion.
Global trade has declined around 9.2% annually. The food and beverage industry declined 22% and automobile industry declined 20%. West Asia lost $270 billion worth of oil income due to the pandemic. 26% of businesses around the world were closed at one point or the other due to the pandemic. Around 100,000 businesses have shut down in the United States. There was a 57% increase in insolvencies in North America due to the virus. The pandemic has caused prominent companies such as J.C. Penny, Aldo, Virgin Atlantic, Aldo, J. Crew, Thai Airways, and California Pizza Kitchen to file for bankruptcy.
AMERICA’S GDP CONTRACTED BY 3.5% IN 2020, THE WORST SINCE 1946. AMERICA’S UNEMPLOYMENT HIT 14.7%, THE HIGHEST SINCE WORLD WAR 2.
