11 April 2020, NIICE Commentary 4031
Manohar Bhat
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought all the nations down to its knees. The intensity of this crisis is so deep that it has affected all powers across the world, regardless of their economic and technological might. The solution to the COVID-19 pandemic lies in the integrative approach where world leaders come together and build consensus to provide solutions. This article intends to argue that situation of this kind needs inputs from all domains, cutting across those who work on the frontlines of policymaking, medical research and innovation, private corporations, data science, economics and statistics.
China and the World Health Organisation (WHO) failed to act quickly on Covid-19, which was first identified in Wuhan of China in early December 2019. Strategic community and think tanks around the world has posed questions and expressed its disappointment while some went to the extend called it with different names such as ‘China virus’, ‘Wuhan Virus’ and ‘pandemic made in China’. Indian geopolitical expert and columnist Madhav Nalapat observed, “Had authorities in Wuhan understood the toxicity of the new disease by November 2019 and taken steps to limit its spread, China and, subsequently, the world may have been spared substantial grief.” However, it is the need of hour to keep all the disappointments aside and start working towards finding better frameworks to end this pandemic. Death numbers due to COVID-19 is rising rapidly. Most developed countries like China, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the United States have highest casualties. Hence, it is vital to work with all the countries including China which has the huge data apropos to this virus. During their hour long discussion, the Chinese President Xi-Jinping assured Donald Trump, the President of the US, to share data on Coronavirus. Similarly, India also set up a coronavirus tracker app called as CoWin-20 which will track location and alert citizens if they are anywhere near an infected patient.
Cascading effects of COVID-19 gave big blow to the global economy. Perhaps, it is the first time in the history of human civilization that the whole world has exercised such a lockdown. The foremost industry which is going to pay a huge price as a result of the pandemic is the aviation industry. Most of the nations across the world have suspended the air services and the airline companies are asking their staff to leave. India has already suspended its domestic and international services to contain the spread of virus. Apart from India, countries like Britain, Canada, China, Singapore and many others are also barring people to travel.
Business of retail and service sector has also come to a halt. Small stores and shops are asked to shut in almost all countries, except those dealing in essential commodities. Countries like Italy, France and Spain closed all their main market hubs by imposing lockdowns after rapid rise in death numbers. The United States too sealed the doors of malls and stores as soon as people started to self-isolate. Big tech giants like Apple and Nike have temporarily suspended their service and asking their staff to work from home.
Similarly, the stock market has also started tumbling due to this pandemic shock. Due to fear and panicking, the traders starting to sell their shares in stock market so rapidly that even big companies like Dow Jones fell by 418.94 points. Indian stock markets has also seen steep decline amidst the COVID-19 crisis and for the first-time Indian investors are losing hopes to invest in the equity market shares. On top of that, the crude oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, has also contributed to this economic instability.
Recently, G-20 leaders pledged to contribute USD 5 trillion dollar to overcome the global economic slump and agreed to extend their support to minimise the effect of this pandemic. They also discussed financial stability, restoring global growth and maintaining market stability to strengthen the global economy. G- 20 finance minister and central bank governors have agreed to work in coordination to bring detailed action plan while International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova hinted that global recession is bound to take place and therefore cooperation among nations is required to bring global economy on the track. Countries around the world have announced fiscal and economic package to support the vulnerable sections of the society. The US President Donald Trump announced historic USD 2 trillion stimulus, whereas Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced INR 1.7 trillion rupees as relief package. The countries should learn from each other to overcome this pandemic. Taiwan and South Korea effectively fought with the COVID-19, and there is a lot for countries to learn from them. Steps taken by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also highly appreciated; even the WHO acknowledged India’s tremendous capability to fight against this kind of disease. Hence, India can also play a huge role in fighting this global pandemic. Countries should also give more importance to public health and strengthen the international organisations like WHO with more resources.
