The prevailing outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to impact the lives of the people all over the world, including Pakistan, and has caused more than 4.4 million cases and crossing 200,000 deaths globally. It has also indicated fears of global economic crisis and recession. The implication of social distancing and self-isolation has affected the cultural standards while travel boundaries have led to a reduced workforce across all economic sectors and caused a higher jobs loss. All educational institutions have been closed and religious places are also instructed to monitor and follow the COVID-19 SOPs while performing the limited worship activities following lockdownz.
In accordance with this global outbreak, an overview of the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 on the global society is required to undertake the status of the 2030 Agenda, also known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
COVID-19 started as a small viral outbreak in Wuhan city of China; it has now surrounded the globe. All those who had any wrong concept and misguided notions of containing this are standstill and shocked. The COVID-19 outbreak is a global issue as a pandemic that is affecting every living human-being. China worked hard to contain the virus since December 2019 and has been declared clear of the virus after five long months but Beijing got affected again. South Korea and Singapore have also been competent enough to control the spread, but many other countries like Italy, France, Spain and the United States have not been so successful. This epidemic’s occurrence has been observed as more disastrous than the Second World War.
As the developed nations are facing the full impact of the disease, now developing countries like Pakistan and India are also included in the list of having the highest rates of COVID-19 infected population on the globe while facing the challenges of a weak economy. The year ahead is, perhaps, the most difficult and challenging one for the entire world and there is a need to face this socio-economic crisis with resilience, competence and discipline to avoid the darkest nightmares of present catastrophe.
In the present scenario, need and demand for many commodities and manufactured products have been decreased; whereas, the need for health and medical supplies has significantly increased. The food sector has also been facing increased demand due to panic-buying and hoarding of food products. During this worldwide crisis, many global and local level charity initiatives have been observed and lots of edible and health items are being distributed as charity actions to relieve the economic burden of the vulnerable stratum.
The current medical and health-related shreds of evidence portray to comprehend the fact to the whole world that there is no treatment available, till present, for the virus which is highly contagious and spreads from person to person through droplets in the air or when a person comes into contact with surfaces that have been touched by a Corona patient. Pakistan was introduced to the virus through travelers coming in from countries like Iran initially, and then, there have been reports of migrant workers and personnel coming to Pakistan from the Middle East and Europe. Presently, Pakistan has been facing the full blow of this virus after relaxing the lockdown on Eidul Fitr and, as now, has over 200,000 infected cases crossing 4000 deaths which are increasing daily, having almost 3000 critical cases.
According to experts, application of social distancing is the only safeguard to limit the huge spread of the virus, which can only be achieved from lockdown of cities and villages alike. Although social distancing and home isolation, as protective measures, are also generating mental health issues including domestic violence and sexual abuse, if a strict lockdown will not be initiated following SOPs, there will be a massive outbreak in infection rates which can devastate the health infrastructure resulting in huge loss of lives and economy.
This pandemic has affected all levels of education systems, from preschool to tertiary education and apart from lost jobs, hungry stomachs and deteriorating health conditions, other collateral damages will emerge due to the inter linkages between the SDGs. Poverty (SDG1) will take a hit and so will be the quality of education (SDG4). Further, both will not only devastate the economy but also wipe out many of the SDG related efforts and gains.
According to experts, application of social distancing is the only safeguard to limit the huge spread of the virus
The problem of social and economic inequalities are increasing, including the challenge of managing the rapid spread of COVID-19 globally, but what has also emerged is the systematic racism, particularly against people of Asian background, in Western emigrant societies. Indeed, this is not a new phenomenon as many significant pieces of evidence show that at times of crises, be they economic, environmental, security or health-related- minority groups are, often, made victims and are subjected to racist, exclusionary, often violent practices. This epidemic has also impacted the religious behaviours of the societies in many ways and made people keep the worship places more organized, clean and disciplined. It is good to note that different relief wings of religious organizations have collected medical supplies and other required aid for the affected population and distributed without religious discrimination. Believers of many religions assembled to pray for an end to the pandemic and also for those affected by it.
Workplace human resource systems have been changed and ‘work from home’ culture is introduced globally where most of the employees are not attending offices and working from home. But on the other hand, this model can be more beneficial only for IT and service-based companies while trading involves physical goods, which cannot be handled without human support. There are a huge number of private companies that heavily rely on imports for running successfully. All the commercial importers have been suffering from delays or slowdown while industrial importers will have to stop production because of non-availability of raw material. It has been observed that the deficits in revenue will result in salary cuts and then, finally, job losses. Millions of job losses are expected as estimated by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, particularly from semi-skilled and daily-wagers. Around 2.4% of the annual GDP will be lost due to COVID-19, which leads to recession.
No doubt, strict lockdown is imperative as this pandemic tends to harm the economy in many ways and threatens the livelihood of the hoi polloi. While taking such decisions, a delicate balance can be followed while saving lives and not destroying the economic processes. While planning the rehabilitation policies, previous socio-economic strategies can be accessed to avoid the negative impact on the economy while dealing with such epidemics like COVID-19.
The existing COVID-19 situation also proposes hope for new ways of forming and sustaining resilience and solidarity across all cultural backgrounds, faiths and religious traditions, political systems and geographic borders. This multinational solidarity has been showcased in the form of more positive intercultural, transnational medical diplomacy, where countries have been sending doctors, paramedics, medicines and medical equipment, across borders, to those countries hit most by the pandemic and lacked certain medical expertise and supplies. The contemporary global post-COVID-19 condition advocates the world order to take a pause and notice the lessons of this pandemic to reconfigure international relations, intercultural engagement and global solidarity in ways that will ensure we are better able to deal with future crises. The need for global solidarity, intercultural dialogue and equitable capacity-building has increased for the safety, wellbeing and sustainability of the global community so that no one is left behind.
The writer is a Lahore-based educationist & freelance writer