COVID‐19 pandemic! It's impact on people, economy, and environment

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Byomakesh Debata,Pooja Patnaik,Abhisek Mishra
• Date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2372

PRACTITIONER PAPER

COVID-19 pandemic! It's impact on people, economy, and

environment

Byomakesh Debata

1

|Pooja Patnaik

2

|Abhisek Mishra

3

1

Department of Economics & Finance, BITS

Pilani, Pilani, India

2

Department of Humanities and Social

Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology

Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

3

Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for

Development Studies, Bhubaneswar, India

Correspondence

Pooja Patnaik, Department of Humanities and

Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology

Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India.

Email: pooja.patnaik237@gmail.com

The paper reviews the (a) existing knowledge on corona virus disease (b) policy

responses to it, and (c) its impact on the people, economic activities, and environment

of India. The pandemic has increased a sense of fear and insecurity among people

due to probable job and pay loss. As well, the nationwide lockdown imposed by the

government has increased cases of domestic violence and child abuse. The industrial

sectors—tourism, aviation, agriculture, construction, retail, hotels, textile, gems/jewel-

lery, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), manufacturing, and start-ups are tempo-

rarily closed leading to a significant revenue loss. Consequently, existence of many

sectors and employability of a sizable number of employees is at stake. Despite the

economic slowdown, the lockdown has become a boon for the environment to revive

due to less pollution and reduced discharge of effluents to water from factories. The

policy formulators should consider this as wakeup call and thereby align the people,

economy, and environment strategically.

1|INTRODUCTION

The corona virus disease (COVID-19) first reported in Wuhan, China

on December 31, 2019 has spread in more than 210 countries and

claimed lives of more than two lakh people. The researchers, doctors,

and virologists across the globe are continuously working to decode

the disease pattern, identify potential treatments, therapies, and

develop vaccines. However, the genetic mutation of the virus over

time has increased challenge on scientists to come out with a con-

crete result. Further, despite the availability of advanced health care

systems, there has been an escalation in the number of deaths. Also,

the roles of doctors and nurses have become riskier as the probability

to get infected has increased while treating patients. The COVID-19

has not only affected people but also has resulted in cessation of

trade, business, and economic activities.

The COVID-19 has drawn enormous attention of the research

community, virologists, and medical practitioners to design mecha-

nisms to combat the disease. Nonetheless, the speed of spreading and

death rate has compelled the government to intervene to break the

chain of human transmission. The government imposed lockdown,

which made 1.3 billion people of India under restrictions (Das, 2020),

and took stringent action against people violating the rules and regula-

tions. The government ensured all its functionaries to be active so as

to streamline the movement of people and other activities during

lockdown.

The pandemic brought trade and business into halt and forced

the breadwinners to stay indoors. This lockdown acted as a boon for

the environment to revive. To this end, the paper reviews the current

state of knowledge regarding COVID-19, the policy responses to it. In

addition, this study discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the people,

economy, and environment particularly in India.

1.1 |Corona virus disease (COVID-19)

COVID-19 is a respiratory infection caused by one of the largest

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) virus. In human, corona viruses can range from

mild to fatal. Mild illnesses include cases of common cold, while more

fatal varieties such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) witnessed in 2003 and

2012 respectively. The disease is primarily spread through coughing,

sneezing, physical contact or talking with close contact within 1–2m

(Stelzer-Braid et al., 2009). The medical procedures like intubation and

cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) may cause respiratory secretions

to be aerosolized and thus result in airborne spread. It may also spread

when one touches a contaminated surface using skin, and then

Received: 2 May 2020Accepted: 9 August 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2372

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2372.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd1of5

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2372