Pandemic and Economic Slowdown: Strategies to Tackle Both
Abstract
The disease Covid-19 was officially declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11th March 2020. Within four months of its emergence, the said disease had spread to all parts of the globe except the continent of Antarctica and has infected millions of people. Studies on the data available from the earlier four pandemics show that the pandemic will cause severe strain to the public health care system as the system will have to deal with a large number of patients simultaneously. The economy will also be severely disrupted. An US congressional study points out that a severe pandemic will result in the GDP growth falling by 6.5 % in the year in which the pandemic happens. There are a number of medical and non-medical strategies available to prevent/combat pandemics.
