COVID-19 Global Impact:
How the Corona Virus is Affecting the World
Dealing with the unforeseen challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on people all across the world. However, even the countries that the new coronavirus has hit less aggressively are still under considerable strain, and the entire world is buzzing with uncertainty and questions: How long will the pandemic last? What will people’s lives look like once the pandemic is over? At the moment, many countries have taken measures — some of them stringent — to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty and malnutrition.
Millions of enterprises face an existential threat. Nearly half of the world’s global workforce - 3.3 billion - are at risk of losing their livelihoods. The pandemic has decimated jobs and placed millions of livelihoods at risk. As breadwinners lose jobs, fall ill and die, the food security and nutrition of millions of women and men are under threat, with those in low-income countries, particularly the most marginalised populations, which include small-scale farmers and indigenous peoples, being hardest hit. Further, when experiencing income losses, they may resort to negative coping strategies, such as distress sale of assets, predatory loans or child labour.
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Informal economy workers are particularly vulnerable because the majority lack social protection and access to quality healthcare. Without the means to earn an income during lockdowns, many are unable to feed themselves and their families. For most, no income means no food, or, at best, less food and less nutritious food.
The run on the hospitals has overwhelmed the Indian healthcare systems, and the need of the hour is the addition of more hospitals that can meet the medical needs of the sick. As India grapples with COVID-19, the want for a quality healthcare system that especially caters to the rural poor cannot be overstated. The country is reeling under an exponential increase in the number of COVID–19 infections, which is around four lakh cases per day.
The Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital at Muddenhalli has geared up and risen to the occasion and extends the best COVID care to all those in need absolutely free of cost. The criticality of providing this infrastructure is highlighted by the fact that there are not enough hospitals with ICU facilities in the district of Chikkaballapur and some of its neighboring towns.