COVID-19: A Global Pandemic That Must Be Stopped

Covid-19 is a short form of coronavirus disease which got discovered in 2019. It is a respiratory type of infection solely caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2 (Mijovic 1). The disease was earlier noted in Wuhan city in China in December 2019. On March 11th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a world pandemic (Bajwa et al., 267). As a result, the WHO urged nations across the globe to take first and urgent measures to prevent this virus from spreading even further (Bajwa et al., 267). The acuteness of this pandemic disease affects the entire daily life and operations, ranging from learning, trade, traveling, financial markets, food supplies, to tourism. Once infected, individuals can be identified through symptoms such as coughing, breathing shortness, and fever (Mijovic 3). These symptoms appear as early as after two days, and the longest time they take is 14 days. As such, to overcome this infection, vivid planning needs to put in place. The plan involves finding and addressing the precise risks of exposure. However, addressing the root sources of this exposure remains vital, and finding and explaining ways of transmission to the public is central as well. Equally significant, the public should be made aware of the methods of spreading COVID-19. Among them, this virus spreads through respiratory droplets, which are produced from sneezing and coughing of infected individuals. As such, when these particles fall on the closest person's nose or mouth, they get infected (Bajwa et al., 268). Other ways include touching objects and surfaces containing SARS-CoV-2 and then touching eyes, mouth, and nose. Therefore, different from other diseases that have hit the world before, the coronavirus havoc has led to fatal consequences to bear, affecting social, political, and economic sectors globally.

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Since the outbreak of the coronavirus infection in 2019, the world is in great panic concerning this global health disaster (Bajwa et al., 267). The most challenging issue is the prevention and treatment mechanism, which is undergoing research. The disease has significantly impacted how we perceive our daily lives and the world in general. The most worrying of the many consequences is the rate of contagion and the transmission pattern that threatens the world's sense of urgency. Since its emergence, the trend of transmission and infection has been rising daily. Equally, the length of time the disease takes in someone before one dies is substantially small, not exceeding one month. Up to date, over 2.8 million cases of infected individuals have been reported worldwide, and slightly above 200000 deaths confirmed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Worldometers n.p). According to Worldometers statistics, COVID-19 disease has affected countries irrespective of power and advances in medical technology and to all individuals, regardless of social class. Having recorded a significant number of deaths in superpower countries starting from china, the presumed origin of the disease, it went to Italy, which also suffered massively, and recently the fever has hit the U.S acutely.

Due to the punitive consequences seen so far, individual countries are forced to come up with mitigating measures to try and control the spread while waiting for medics and scientists to develop long term solutions to this disastrous disease. Among the proposals include reducing social interactions. It is believed that this respiratory disease spreads through close interactions among people. Therefore, the primary safety measure to contain the spread has to do with keeping the social distance between individuals. As a result, this measure has affected social life the greatest in history. The outstanding social interactions which were affected included learning, sports, and workplaces, which were closed a few days after the first cases started emerging across different countries of the world (Kucin 37). The academic institutions of all levels were closed, leaving leaners with no option other than staying and learning from homes as they hopefully wait to resume once a cure for the disease emerges. Also, most industries, especially non-essential services, are facing closure or reduced production capacity. This move was put in place to reduce the interactions at the working sites, which could spread the disease even further. Also affected is the entertainment industry. Crowds in sporting grounds, social halls where entertainment activities involve close contact, and other social places, including restaurants, bars, and food courts, were closed to ensure social distancing (Kucin 37). However, since these initial prevention measures lacked adequate effectiveness, some countries imposed lockdowns, which ensures that residents stay at their homes for a given period.

Equally, the social distancing rule has not only affected the social lives of individuals but also the economic sector as well. With industries closing, the world GDP growth is predicted to decrease massively. According to UNIDO, the IMF's projections indicate that the world economy is likely to undergo an economic recession worse than the Great Depression of the 1920s (UNIDO, n.p). The effect will result from limited money circulation and low productions due to the fear of coronavirus effects globally. Also, employment will be affected worse than earlier projections. Initially, the international labor organization (ILO) predicted an increase in unemployment by up to 25 million this year and a significant loss of labor income of around USD 860 billion to 3.4 trillion if not underestimated (UNIDO n.p). Now, according to the ILO, the figures may go even higher due to the COVID-19 consequences. Besides, if the current situation continues, the developing countries will suffer the most (Hamwey, np). The effect is realistic since the corona crisis is likely to hit employees in low and middle-income nations. It remains vivid that the employees working in informal sectors of the countries mentioned above have limited access to social protection and adequate health, which means the majority, might be affected by the coronavirus, hence closing down their industries.

Even though much of this disease's consequences have been negative, the environment and the ecosystem, in general, will be in the positive receiving end. Social distance and lockdowns were put in place to prevent the disease from spreading, have reduced the movement of motor vehicles and aircraft. Besides, the majority of industries, which, together with aircraft and vehicles, cause greenhouse emissions, have been closed. As a result of their closing, there has been a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. As such, air quality in the globe's major cities advanced dramatically between March and April (Hamwey n.p). The improvement was a result of the reduction in road traffic and factory emissions of nitrogen oxides, ozone-related gases, and carbon dioxide, which pollute the air. These changes remain encouraging to the global society in mitigating the looming climate change.

Conclusion

The earliest recovery period from the coronavirus is still unknown. Therefore, people across the world need to continue taking measures to prevent the spreading of the disease to avoid overwhelming health facilities, especially in developing countries. Developing countries have weak health systems and may not manage the surging numbers of infections. The rate at which this disease is killing is relatively high. Therefore, unless people follow the prevention measures, the consequences are going to be detrimental before most of the countries flatten the curve or get a vaccine. As such, it should be mandatory for people to continue staying at their homes and keep social distance if the world is to open and business as usual begins. Moreover, a vaccine appears to be the long-term solution to ending the pandemic and to allow governments across the world to relax the restrictions to movement and association. However, for a vaccine to emerge it needs at least 18 months to develop.

Works cited

Bajwa, Sukhminder, Rashi Sarna, Chashamjot Bawa, and Lalit Mehdiratta. 2020. "Peri-Operative and Critical Care Concerns in Coronavirus Pandemic." Indian Journal of Anaesthesia 60 (4): 267-74. doi:10.4103/ija.IJA_272_20.

Hamwey, Robert. "Environmental impacts of coronavirus crisis challenge ahead." UNCTAD. Web. https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=2333.

Kucin Jr., Daniel. "Coronavirus Brings Pro Sports in D.C. to Standstill." Washington Informer, 55(23):2020, 37. search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=142349411&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Mijovic, Biljana. "COVID-19 - Lessons Learned." Scripta Medica, 51(1): 2020, 1-5. doi:10.5937/scriptamed51-25824.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). (2020). "Coronavirus: the economic impact." UNCTAD. Web. https://www.unido.org/stories/coronavirus-economic-impact.

Worldometers. (2020). "Coronavirus Update (Live)." Wordometers. Web. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.