Coronavirus (COVID-19)
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Wuhan, China, was the first city to declare the outbreak of the newly discovered Coronavirus (COVID-19). From mild cases of minor common flu to severe cases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) fall under the category of Coronavirus. In this view, the World Health Organization (WHO) did declare Coronavirus as a pandemic due to staggering cases of those infected at 3,090,445 and 217, 769 deaths around the world. The effects Coronavirus has aggravated the global economy deeper while undergoing the current global crisis in cooperation, political, trade, social-economic. Therefore, in this paper, we discuss the effects of Coronavirus on globalization with great attention to international trade.
The first era of globalization was evident in the first transnational economy then accomplished by Great Britain, greatly riding on open capital markets, free trade, and advancing nations as great consumers. In this midst came the very first international industrial strengthened economic power. However, due to better integrated international communications, politics, and better transportation, global interactions were witnessed then. In the face of these changes also had implications on the health, especially the spread of communicable disease. In Europe, as it became to be called Black Death that killed an estimate of 50 million people, as a direct consequence of international trade. Just like COVID-19, its spread to various nations across the globe has a striking similarity to that of the Black Death (Barro, Robert, et al. 2020). COVID-19, like Black Death, affects old and young women and men of all races, color, and society.
New structured ways of leadership were formed, thus created open economies for private business enterprises. They were able to access foreign markets, new invention
s, and immigration as well as adhering to international law. While riding on organized power in intelligence and technology, ideas and people moved easily, diffusing America’s political ideologies and cultural beliefs. Global connections this time led to the great exposition of the age in the states of Chicago in 1893 (Fontaine, and Idriss 123). The information revolution opened up communication channels for capital exports, major investments overseas, and financial markets. It is in the second era that institutions such as a World Trade Organization formed (WTO).
The rise of the third era involves more interconnected economies with sophisticated technologies that have virtually annihilated distance and space. With the explosive increase in worldwide travels has created millions of potential infectious exchanges on a daily basis. Transportation that includes air, water, road, and railway have all made it easier incubation periods for any human infectious disease transmission. All is not groom take, for example, cross border movement for health care patrons as witnessed in the United States, Universal health tourism found in Cuba, and internet drug sales. Furthermore, complexity in the health systems has been eased by increased communications mechanisms giving disadvantaged populations, countries a chance to international comparisons. Evidently is the current information available for the COVID-19 in all print, TV, and social media. The World Health Organization (WHO) website gives a detailed report on the cases day by day of all countries affected directly or indirectly. (Kruse et al. 8) states that new frontiers like telemedicine are improving access to health care, especially the underserved population, moreover distance will not be an impediment to healthcare as a way in the future.
Dark globalization has been experienced even with ever-growing global markets. It has a bias towards a balance of development on society and the economy. Globalization is uncontrolled; this is exaggerated with a highly disproportionate flow of capital. For example, foreign development assistance for developing countries over the last two decades amounted to excesses of billions each year, while in the same period of illegal monies went back to the developed countries. We therefore at ration 1:10 in the measures of good and corruption. In .addition, globalization has dark parts letting flaws of terrorism, pandemic diseases, and drug trafficking, human trafficking, organized crime, and piracy. Furthermore, unequal distributions have seen the profits and budgets on such association in trade. Most industrialized countries are conjointly interdependent, according to (Estrada and Mario et al. 1830). On the other hand, developing countries are mostly dependent on economic associations with other countries as well as dependent on industrialized countries. But some of the countries changing this rationale include Brazil, India, and China.
Coronavirus has pushed down the world economy in a matter of weeks due to the infection rate of the disease. Recession is imminent if the virus goes on without revamping the economies of nations across the world. Countries are coming up with strategies that do not shrink their economies. With the extraordinary circumstance, the pandemic has resulted in a deeper crisis. Currently, most firms in China have started to pick up, but there is still fear among the people of the emergence of new causes of COVID-19. Corporates are coming to the forefront to fight the virus, support by corporate firms such as Alibaba, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., and Bank of China, among many others who are supporting ensure a constant supply of surgical masks, protective gears, disinfectants for the health workers. Compared with the mere corporate social responsibility that they have been used to carrying out psychosocial support. Furthermore, companies such as Huawei offered 5G enabled remote video diagnostic Centres jointly with China Telecom to facilitate medical staff carry out online medical consultations.
In the US, the death toll rose to a staggering figure. Suggestion to open up economic zones was a debate but still observing the WHO set guidelines in the event the economy was opened, though the expected recovery is expected to be much longer. Most countries mirror the recovery in Asia outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), 2003. Five mechanisms to fight Coronavirus were enlisted by WHO are as follows. The first was to identify in the six regions and setup reference laboratories and other support labs equipped with experts in virology, diagnostics equipment, sequencing. The response on the disease has been swift with different organizations coming together to support WHO’s Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System to support clinical Centre with respiratory like diseases. This helps to alert the community to the presence of the Covid-19. The third mechanism is helping out countries and their member state to help detect cases before the disease spreads out by supplying them with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits.
In Australia, the government activated emergency response to suppress the pandemic in a various way. This was done by designating it as a global pandemic before the official declaration by WHO, especially the group of seven nations. In this regard, the authorities released emergency funds as well as giving tax breaks prior to giving hospitals equip and prepared for any eventualities. Stringent measures were placed on those traveling to Australia as they would self-isolate for 14 days. The set guidelines apply to those who may or not have had contact with the risk of exposure to the new Coronavirus. Moreover, early preparedness, especially on the classifying of COVID-19, was very helpful.
Italy has the worst effects of the Coronavirus to the extent of being declared as an epicenter of the pandemic; this is according to the WHO. For instance, the country runs short of ventilators and intensive care beds. For this reason, the authority came up with guidelines for doctors oho how they would respond to the crises when the outbreak intensified. One of the considerations was to prioritize treatment for aged. Moreover, due to many patients coming to the hospital’s medical personnel would have to choose who to place in life support machines. However, the Italian authorities imposed a major lockdown on its citizens, leaving out supermarkets, drug stores, and other essential outlets to the public. Additionally, travel restrictions and curfews effects have made the ever-bustling piazzas squares and historic sites are virtually empty.
South Korea coronavirus infections have been limited to a minority group, the majority being quasi-Christians. Together with its neighboring nations like China, they formulated a thorough screening and testing program. Moreover, carrying out these fast-paced testing, the government had made the free for all. The test results take around 24hrs, making it easier to manage patients’ anxiety and from any fears. Another breakthrough success to manage the pandemic by the South Korea authority was to roll out a drive-through testing center and a well-established coronavirus contact tracing system. Furthermore, South Korea, in conjunction with other Asian nations like Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, within a short period, were able to implement a mechanism known as the “flattening the curve.” The model idea is to stagger or spread out the number of new cases for some time, giving health care systems time to offer better care to its patients. However, it is not clear for how long the i mechanism can assist in the event the Coronavirus reoccur after phasing out.
Outbreaks of infectious diseases recently have been of biological origin have negatively affected the social associations. With this, consideration of future pandemics is feared to be of the same nature. For example, during the first outbreak of SARS in 2003, expectations for implementing new guidelines would ease the current coronavirus pandemic. Although, this period helped shape out new global public health law as stated by (Zhu and Na et al.). The future pandemic outbreaks observation will be made to see whether the implementation of the international public law, especially emerging infectious disease. Therefore, in the view of discussing future developments of pandemics, some key ethical concerns connected to developing and recurring infectious diseases were highlighted. The roles and responsibilities of health workers are one of the concerns. All caregivers and health workers are certainly on the front line in a pandemic. Therefore they have an ethical responsibility to be responsible for safe care, as well as they also know the risks to their patients. Secondly, the infectious disease has affected commerce amongst nations. In this case, infections develop, recur, and spread from one place to another in the world with such a rate that it is challenging to documents them regularly. Therefore, governments have to put established protective measures, such as the establishment of quarantines in the events of pandemics. Further, regulations developed by Who amid Coronavirus include hygiene, and sanitation, both in the shipping and air travel as a way of minimizing the international spread of disease. This has ultimately affected commerce significantly. Governments must, therefore, attempt to balance the two competing threats. One is to stop infectious disease along the borders by crossing borders, also placing cautions, measures to protect the economies due to impacts of pandemics related limitations touching travel and trade. The third factor is the challenge of providing impartial access to health as observed epidemics recur year after year because the affected majority of nations have no access to the right drugs and vaccines. For example, polio has challenged so many nations across the globe.
In the late ’80s, polio was found in 125 countries that needed adequate access to the vaccine. With interventions of agencies UNICEF, WHO, and friends of international financial partners offered provisions reasonable access to the vaccine for children across the world. However, influenza pandemic, are worse due to limitations to vaccines, especially in developing countries. The development capacity of the global influenza vaccine by manufacturing companies stands at 300millon doses with a worldwide population of 6.6 million. Those that benefit most are the developed nations compared to the developing nations. The arguments would be the balance of individual rights versus public wellbeing.
In the era of smallpox suppression campaigns, strategies like that of ring vaccinations were used to distribute vaccines to the target groups. Homesteads with infected persons were used and used the contact tracing methodology. Forced vaccinations were now implemented to populations for the common good. Travelers today in most Asian airports administer mandatory thermal scans to immigrants during influenza seasons. To this effect, extreme measures are set onto passengers exhibiting fevers are restricted from traveling. Such measures have been established to protect overall populations over infectious diseases against the individual right. With threats of high deaths, rates choices have to be made, however unpalatable for that common good.
With most continental Europeans taking precautions of closing schools, enforcing strict quarantine rules, the. But on the other hand, the British government has intensified campaigns across the country to intensify the citizens against the potential impact of corona bite on the economy. For the affected, the government has maintained so that; they stay home and safe from potentially spreading the disease. The threat of the disease has affected many activities of football matches and other major businesses that contributed to the economic growth of the country.
As the Coronavirus spreads worldwide, suspicion United between US and China have affected international trade negatively because the two countries cannot engage in any meaningful trade with one another because of the ongoing trade wars between these two leading countries that continue to affect the trade tie s and create an unfavorable work environment. Even the sharing of experts to assist during this hard time is a major problem because the two countries often see each other in suspicion of one another and not potential allies. Covid-19 is dangerously impacting the manufacturing production in the developing countries because the demand of goods and products from the high-income countries is reducing; the chains are interrupted due to the delays in the product flow and the delivery. Moreover, the ability of the employees to reach their workplace has been affected, thus affecting the usual production process. Various economists have warned on the impacts of the decrease in the manufacture of goods, claiming that the losses will be intense for the developing countries. The flow of manufactured goods is important for the growth of the manufacturing industries.
The use of Porter’s five forces analysis can help evaluate how various industry has responded and adapted to the disease. We adapt the US-based fast food shops like KFC, Starbucks, and McDonald’s compared to China in Chinese Markets, etc. By applying to a sample of KFC. The five factors to be considered include competition, buyers bargaining power, sellers bargaining power, suppliers’ bargaining power, and the threat to new entry into a new environment. From the consumer perspective, very minimal shifts will be made on the changes to the consumption of products or services. For instance, Chinese people will flock to KFC joints to have their bite of the favorite snack regardless of the foreign changes, whether immediate or long term. On the level of the firm, our case study KFC is exploring new markets but under extreme sanitization as one way of giving back to society. The company is one of the few firms that have actively supported the customers and other members of the community during this hard time of Coronavirus. However, Because of the Coronavirus, people have started to pay more attention to their diet with a demand for plant-based protein foods is surging in Asia. This can disrupt the supply chain and demand looking into the future. This sudden shift change has resulted in KFC fast food in China’s plan to include plant-based product promotions.
The impact of COVID-19 has affected supply chain and disrupted manufacturing both in the short term and long term. Supply lead time has been disrupted significantly on deliveries and the closures due to the Coronavirus effect. For example, products to be shipped to Europe or the US takes an average of 30 days. With current lockdowns and temporal closures in China and other major manufacturing giants worldwide, would mean delay of such raw materials. This ultimately altered processes for productions according to (Mangan and John et al.). The majority of businesses are cut to reduce supply costs by subcontracting; offshoring and lean manufacturing have disrupted supply-chain creating a deficit of assembly parts among other products in the manufacturing. In addition, having about half of the population stay at home or quarantine has a negative effect on other sectors such as transport, hospitality, and manufacturing, amongst others. Furthermore, on the long impact, the supply chain has been disrupted from reliance on most raw material from China, and companies are looking for alternatives elsewhere. For example, it is the technology company Apple that has limited global supply of its phones and a drop in demand in markets all over China. Disruption at the Air cargo, ports have also significantly been felt across the globe due to halting of operations since the outbreak. Even though some economies are opening up, it could only cater to essential service.
Global economic growth has had its fair share in this pandemic if COVID-19. Countries like the United Kingdom have resulted in slashing interest rates to boost the economy. In the United States, unemployment rates hit the roof within the first quarter of the year 2020. Demand for commodities such as oil has affected their price value downwards due to the effects of Coronavirus, as people are in lockdowns or in quarantine. Furthermore, looming fears of recession make the global economy plunge as Coronavirus takes toll across the world. An indication by the IMF describes recession at its worst since the 1903’s in the era of the Great Depression. The effects of Coronavirus have made governments urge people to work from home. This has created a demand for online shopping for home groceries, foodstuff as a measure to curb the virus. The transport industry is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic with travel restrictions. An interesting observation that is positive with the lockdowns is the drop in pollution and emission, notably in Manila and Paris in Europe, and India. The Coronavirus has negatively affected the stock markets with the shares of most companies dropping as most people fear to continue with the trade or businesses because of the disease. In the US alone, the number of businesses that have been affected is overwhelming, as most businesses remain shut all the time. The oil prices have also dropped over time due to the disease. Most people have also been restricted, making international trade hard because one is not allowed to travel from one continent to another to the fear of the spread of the disease. The business community has expressed their greatest fear of the disease, and if the spread continues, the global economy may come to a standstill. Among the affected business, hostel and traveling companies are the most affected industries because the visitors received have reduced in numbers. Major trade organizations such as the EU recently banned all travel outside their regional block for around 30 days. The unprecedented move came as an initiative to protect the region from the adverse effect of the disease.
Factors such as stress, uncertainty, and loss of financial stability had led to a sharp increase in domestic violence in local economies. This is so widespread that it has caught the attention of the United Nations, where its secretary-general issued a “ceasefire” to end this vice. Suicide also has also been identified as a concern due to social exclusion in quarantine, fear, unemployment, and social distancing rules. On the long-term impacts of the supply chain, the global economy and those of the local economy will have a paradigm shift with some irreversible actions and lessons to be learned in the future.
In conclusion, COVID-19 has disrupted international trade and more reeling effects on globalization. Impacts of banning air travel to the closing of ports and lockdowns are associated with the pandemic of Coronavirus, as declared by WHO. Trade relations have been hampered with loss of revenue, unemployment, changes in the supply chain have been witnessed globally. Additionally, the monetary policy adopted as a response to the disease has affected stocks and put a steep pressure on some commodities such as oil as a result of stay home guidelines, and quarantine. Moreover, foreign economic policies have to change to adapt to the “new normal” at the firm, consumer, and governmental levels. Nevertheless, negative aspect such as social exclusion due to social distancing guideline has elevated domestic violence among other vices. But on a positive side on lockdowns, pollution levels across the globe have significantly reduced. This has brought a whole broad subject of changing some policies that touch on the environment and climatic changes. Lastly, on Coronavirus continued infections daily is the time the global corporation to end the pandemic rather than blame and point fingers; the number of death cannot be justified worldwide.
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