The coronavirus outbreak has proven to be a global phenomenom. From its centre point in the city of Wuhan, China, where it was identified only a month ago, the COVID-19 pathogen has spread across borders into all five continents.
The horrific and tragic health and mortality-related consequences of this virus are all too obvious as the global death toll approaches 3000, while infections escalate and are nearing 90,000 worldwide. As the world begins to grapple with what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not at the time of writing officially referred to as a “pandemic” yet, it is surely time for national governments, including those of Europe and the United Kingdom, to instigate measures that will protect their citizens.
Both Singapore and Hong Kong, where the virus took hold earlier, have adopted mass building screenings and rotational work shifts for all employees across both these city domains. It is high time the UK looks to adopt similar measures.
Certainly, the economic consequences of the virus’ global expansion will likely be far reaching. Europe’s industrial heartland, as evidenced in northern Italy, has become the western world’s “ground zero”. How individual European governments and the European Union will now cope with the significant loss of output that is likely to arise could be make or break, not only for the region but for the global economy. The article published by this author with “Eurasia Review” (LINK BELOW) a couple of weeks ago discusses the longer term economic ramifications of this viral outbreak.
While some predict a “V”-shaped recovery, with a weak global economy going into 2020 COVID-19’s affect on global economies could be devastating. Time will tell, but it is surely incumbent on governments around the world to reconsider the stability and the wealth-creating benefits of the current entire global economic infrastructure – the foundations of which are being threatened by a microscopic virus.