INTRODUCTION
COVID-19
Coronavirus which was named COVID-19 is a
respiratory disease which affects the lungs of the infected person and thus
making such people vulnerable to other diseases such as pneumonia. It was first
discovered in Wuhan China in December 2019 and since then has spread across the
world affecting more than 40 million people from which over one million have
died.
In the early discovery of the COVID-19,
there were measures that were put in place with the help World Health
Organization (WHO). They recommended a social distance of 1.5 meters to 2
meters to curb the spread since the scientist warned that COVID-19 can be
carried in the droplets when someone breathes or cough. Another measure which
was advised by WHO was wearing of mask, especially when people are in group.
Wearing of mask would ensure that someone’s droplets do not leave their mouth
or nose when they breathe or cough. It also help one from breathing in the
virus which believed to be contagious and airborne.
The World Health Organization also advised
on washing of the hand and avoiding frequent touching of the face. People
mostly use their hand to touch surfaces which mad their hand the greatest
harbor of the disease. Therefore, washing hands with soap will kill and wash
away the virus from the hands. Avoiding touching of face also will prevent
people from contracting the disease since the virus is believed to enter the
body through openings such as eye, nose and mouth.
Another measure as a precaution from
contracting the disease was to avoid hand shaking, hugging, kissing and any
other thing which would bring people together. These were measures put to
ensure that COVID-19 do not move from one person to another because of its
airborne nature and the fact that it can be carried from the mouth or nose
droplets.
Healthcare workers, in most of the
countries, were provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) which helped
them to protect themselves from contracting the virus. Healthcare workers were
at the forefront in combating the disease since they were the people receiving
the sick, including the ones with the virus. This exposed them to COVID-19 more
than anyone hence more care was needed for them. Their PPEs comprised of white
overall covering the whole body from head to toes. It also includes face mask
and googles worn to prevent anything getting in their eyes. Their hands also
were covered with gloves which were removed occasionally to avoid concentration
of the virus on one glove.
COVID-19 affected many economies across
the world as it greatly affected the human economic activities across the
world. Due to the nature and how it spread, COVID-19 lead many countries to
lockdown the country as we know it. Travelling was stopped as many countries
feared the surge of the virus due to many people travelling form the countries
which are already greatly affected. Another reason which travelling was
hampered was due to the fact that the virus could spread among the travelers in
an airplane. There were no proper measures to ensure social distance in the
airplane and many people feared travelling from fear of contracting the
disease.
This greatly affected the economy of many
countries including great economies like USA. Tourism industry was the one
affected the most as many country mostly depend on foreign travelers as their
tourist. Many countries do not have proper domestic tourism structure and
therefore depend on visitors who travels from foreign countries. Such countries
have their economies greatly affected since the earnings from tourism either
gone down or was not there at all.
Apart from locking down the country from
foreigners, many major cities across the world were under lockdown. This means
that even the citizens of the country were neither allowed in or out of the
city. This restricted movement of people affecting greatly the human economic
activities as many businesses were closed down especially transport businesses.
The movement of goods from one places to another was affected making business
difficult to carry out. Many people who dealt in perishable agricultural
products count losses as their farm produced were destroyed because of lack of
wider market. Some countries banned some businesses such as importing second
hand clothes since it was believed that they could harbor the virus. Most of
the meeting places such as sporting events and pubs were closed down affecting
greatly the people who were involved in such businesses.
Across the world, schools were closed.
Schools contain students in large numbers which could affect many students
across the world. Learning was temporary stopped as different countries were
finding ways of curbing the virus.
Scientist are busy like bees across the
world to find the vaccine for the diseases that have ravage many countries and
above all, they are trying to find the cure. Many countries have carried out
their trial of vaccines with the hope to find an effective vaccine for the
virus.
Meanwhile it is necessary to find ways by
which the virus can be controlled so that it doesn’t spread to a point where it
come out of control. Some of the measures put by the WHO has been highlighted
above, but these measures need to be studied to ensure that measures which are
more effective are affected at great heights. I therefore, have created a model
in Insight Maker to check how these measures prove their effectiveness over
time.
