Tag: Coronavirus

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News

Outbreak of Coronavirus in India

For more than a year already, the recent outbreak of the coronavirus has continuously disturbed our plans. Whereas some nations managed to normalize the situation, others have turned into a “death valley.” One of these countries is India. 

On the 26th of April alone, 316 thousand Indians tested positive for the coronavirus. However, this data cannot be fully trusted because the government is not able to supply the doctors with the required number of tests. There is also a lack of doctors to help the sick; the prices for essential medicine have sky-rocketed. Indian doctors have announced that soon there will not be enough space in hospitals anymore, and that therefore hospitals would soon no longer be able to accept new patients. The government has taken some steps to help hospitals by, for example, banning the use of liquid oxygen in non-medical purposes.

The number of daily cases for the past few days in India. The graph is taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/.

Sources

  1. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-04/26/c_139907439.htm
  2. https://www.dw.com/en/india-coronavirus-death-toll/a-57338733
  3. Picture from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/26/photos-show-the-deadly-toll-of-covid-in-india-as-coronavirus-cases-top-17-million.html
Categories
Analysis

The Economic Consequences of COVID-19

Before describing and diving deeper into the economic impact of the pandemic on the worldwide demand and supply levels, let’s begin with defining both demand and supply. Demand refers to the request made by consumers on a range of goods & services at a certain price over a period of time. On the other hand, supply refers to the provision of these requested goods by suppliers.

Unfortunately, the virus left a scope of countries, cities, and societies facing detrimental consequences, both socially and economically. However, lets discuss the effect of the pandemic on the economies of various nations, specifically a very important component of each economy – demand and supply.

Let’s begin with supply. COVID-19 led to a massive supply shock – a disruption and reduction of production levels of goods & services due to the sudden closure of businesses and factories all around the world.

Conversely, it is argued by many of the world’s professors that the supply shock was of smaller magnitude than the demand shock. Besides decreasing production levels, the closure of businesses and factories led to a loss of many jobs, consequently resulting in a fall of income received by workers and hence, the levels of consumer spending and consumption within an economy.

All of these adverse impacts of COVID-19 on the demand and supply levels of different economic agents led to a state of turmoil for the different businesses, firms, and economies all around the world.

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News

Biden Calls for $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package

President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who was inaugurated last week, proposed a $1.9 trillion relief package to both help Americans get through the pandemic and to provide extra funding for COVID-19 testing and vaccine distribution across a United States that has been crushed by the virus. His plan calls for $1,400 checks for each person in most households, $400 per week for the unemployed through to December, expanded paid leave, and increases in child tax credit.. This package along with the smaller one released in December would mean that most Americans will be receiving a combined total of $2,000 each. Unlike past packages, all dependent adults, such as college students, will be eligible for payments since Biden has emphasized that he believes that these people, whether they have kept their jobs or not, are in need of help. This portion of the package that directly supports households makes up about half of the plan’s total cost, with much of the other half of it going to vaccine distribution and testing in local and state governments throughout the US. In addition to expanding eligibility, this package will also raise child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000 for this year as with $600 additional dollars for children under 6 years old. The plan will also provide the poorest households with the full benefits of this. The child tax credit currently provides parents with a credit of up to $2,000 per child under 17 years old on their taxes. Simply put, it means that if you are a parent of two children under 17, you would pay up to $4,000 dollars less in taxes when it is time to pay them. The package will also focus on extending student loan forbearance, which will pause loan payments, provide $350 billion for state and local governments, and dedicate $50 billion to increasing testing and vaccine distribution. Overall this enormous plan covers a lot of issues in the United States that this pandemic has either created or exacerbated. However, this enormous plan is still the starting point for the new president and his attempts to fight a pandemic and an economic recession simultaneously. Mr. Biden has said that he plans to outline another proposal dedicated to economic recovery and combating climate change in February.

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Weekly Summaries

7th of December – 13th of December

Brexit Updates

Time is running out for the UK and the EU to reach a deal before the UK is supposed to leave the EU on the 31st of December this year. This past Monday the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced that he would travel to Brussels in a final attempt to reach a trade agreement with the EU. On Wednesday the European Commission then published no-deal contingency measures in an attempt to prevent chaos on the 1st of January 2021 if no agreement is reached till then.

Vaccinations in Britain against the Coronavirus

In Britain the first people have now received a vaccine against the coronavirus, which was developed by two companies called Pfizer and BioNTech. However, two of the people who received the shot so far have had serious allergic reactions to the vaccine, but they both have a history of severe allergic reactions. The vaccine will be administered by health care workers, the military, volunteers, and even first-aid workers. The National Health Service is aiming to vaccinate tens of millions of people in a matter of months. Furthermore, Canada has now also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people older than 16 years.

Other News:

  • Morocco joined the ranks of Arab countries who have normalized relations with Israel
  • Almost 50,000 Ethiopians from the Tigray region have sought refuge in Sudan
  • European Union leaders agree on a $2.2 trillion stimulus package