article about ongoing issue covid 19 and its effect s on society
Answers
Answer:
The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease and efforts to quarantine it. As the pandemic has spread around the globe, concerns have shifted from supply-side manufacturing issues to decreased business in the services sector.[1]
Supply shortages are expected to affect a number of sectors due to panic buying, increased usage of goods to fight the pandemic, and disruption to factories and logistics in mainland China. There have been widespread reports of supply shortages of pharmaceuticals,[2] with many areas seeing panic buying and consequent shortages of food and other essential grocery items.[3][4][5] The technology industry, in particular, has been warning about delays to shipments of electronic goods.[6]
On 25 February, it was expected that Australia, mainland China, and Hong Kong would have the most direct economic impacts from the disruption,[7] with Hong Kong already in a recession at that time after a long period of ongoing protests since 2019[8] and Australia widely expected to be in a recession with GDP contracting by 0.2% to 0.5% for 2020,[9] but Morgan Stanley expects the economy of China to grow by between 5.6% (worst-case scenario) to 5.9% for 2020.[10] As mainland China is a major economy and a manufacturing hub, the viral outbreak has been seen to pose a major destabilising threat to the global economy.[needs update] Agathe Demarais of the Economist Intelligence Unit forecast in January that markets would remain volatile until a clearer image emerged on potential outcomes. Some analysts estimated as early as January that the economic fallout of the epidemic on global growth could surpass that of the SARS outbreak.[11] Dr. Panos Kouvelis, director of "The Boeing Center" at Washington University in St. Louis, estimates a $300+ billion impact on world's supply chain that could last up to two years.[12] The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reportedly "scrambled" after a steep decline in oil prices due to lower demand from China.[13] Global stock markets fell on 24 February 2020 due to a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases outside mainland China.[14][15] By 28 February 2020, stock markets worldwide saw their largest single-week declines since the 2008 financial crisis.[16][17][18] Global stock markets crashed in March 2020, with falls of several percent in the world's major indices. As the pandemic spreads, global conferences and events across technology, fashion, and sports are being cancelled or postponed.[19] While the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing. By 16 March, news reports emerged indicating that the effect on the United States economy will be worse than previously thought.[20]