Study the Effect of Using Google Classroom on the Academic Performance Under the Covid19 Pandemic Using Data Mining Technique

In light of the pandemic that has swept the world, the use of elearning in educational institutions has become an urgent necessity for continued knowledge communication with students. Educational institutions can benefit from the free tools that Google provide and from these applications, Google classroom which is characterized by ease of use, but the efficiency of using Google classroom is affected by several variables not studied in previous studies Clearly, this study aimed to identify the use of Google classroom as a system for managing e-learning and the factors affecting the performance of students and lecturer. The data of this study were collected from 219 members of the faculty and students at the College of Administration and Economics at the University of Baghdad in Iraq and have reached Google classroom offers all the technologies wanted by students and lecturer but there is a positive correlation between lack of knowledge of technical matters and decrease in the use of Google classroom and online education and vice versa © 2023, International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies.All Rights Reserved.

ESCALATION OF PROJECT COST DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The construction sector is known as a major contributor to the overall development and expansion of the country's economy and any delay in a project may cause a cascading effect on the country's economy. In 2020, most countries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that had a significant impact on construction projects resulting in project delays and project cost overruns. This paper identifies factors that influence the project cost escalation due COVID-19 pandemic and studies the escalation of main construction materials. Questionnaires were conducted online to the target respondents who were involved in the construction projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research area covers the Klang Valley which is centered in Kuala Lumpur and includes its adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. The findings of this study reveal that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) imposed by the government has significantly increased the project cost, such as hand sanitizer, face masks and Rapid Test Kit (RTK) provided to the workers. As a result, the contractor companies have suffered in maintaining their finances as they have to continue to pay their workers in full even when the companies are still surviving the epidemic of COVID-19. The findings of this study may assist construction parties as well as government bodies in strategically planning the finances in dealing with a similar pandemic situation in the future. © 2022 ISEC Press.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on rural entrepreneurs

Rural entrepreneurs are significant business groups, being the contributors to the nation's economy. They are the creators of job opportunities, but they are facing great challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The objective of this research is to explore the impact of the pandemic on rural entrepreneurs. The current research was carried out at the Rural Community Centre (RCC) of Kg. Jelintoh, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia. Being the most active RCC in conducting entrepreneurship programmes in 2019, that centre was chosen for this study. This exploration research utilised qualitative approach which involved an in-depth interview by using a semi-structured interview format with seven rural entrepreneurs. They were selected through a purposive sampling from the list of rural entrepreneurs. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis method. The results revealed two main themes of the impacts. The first theme was business operation which includes operation disruption, decrease in demand, shortage of logistic supply, and operation closure. The second theme involves business finance that consists of cash flow problems, unexpected increase in production cost, and access to economic stimulus package. The findings from this research provide good inputs to relevant agencies in assisting the rural entrepreneurs to resume their businesses. It is recommended that all types of rural businesses to be allowed to run their normal operations, ensure the smoothness of logistics supply, being offered with financial aids, reduce the production cost, and create an easy-access entry to economic stimulus package.

Antiviral activity of Humulus lupulus (HOP) aqueous extract against MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2: in-vitro and in-silico study

Coronaviruses emerged three times in the last two decades and became a source of concern globally. Humulus lupulus plant has been used widely in medical science. Our objective in this study was to determine the effects of the crude extract of H. lupulus in inhibiting MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses' replication in vitro using Vero E6 cell lines and predict the antiviral activity of its identified compounds against the receptor binding (RBD) protein of both viruses in silico. We determined the concentration of the extract that induced less than 50% cell toxicity (CC50), and the antiviral activity based on IC50 and plaque reduction assay. We used molecular docking simulation to predict the potential of known active compounds in H. lupulus to inhibit the RBD protein. H. lupulus extract showed very low toxicity on Vero E6 cells with CC50= 23.25 µg/µL and antiviral activity toward MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 with IC50= 0.18 and 0.9 µg/µL, respectively. The crude extract showed inhibition rate of 84.6% with MERS-CoV and 80% with SARS-CoV-2. In silico analysis predicted the compounds 5′-prenylxanthohumo, xanthogalenol, dehydrocycloxanthohumol hydrate, 6-prenylnaringenin, isoxanthohumol, catechin gallate, epicatechin gallate, 8-prenylnaringenin and xanthohumol to inhibit MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 invasion of host cells by interfering with viral spike protein and the host cell receptor recognition process. Drug likeness and toxicity risk prediction analysis confirmed their capability as potential drugs. Based on our findings, isolation, purification and testing of the suggested active compounds could lead to novel anti-coronavirus drugs. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

USAGE AND USABILITY OF HEALTH MOBILE APPLICATIONS DURING COVID-19 IN SAUDI ARABIA-A CASE OF TAWAKKALNA AND SEHATY APPLICATION

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability and usage statistics of the Tawakkalna and Sehaty programs. The study employed a cross-sectional methodology to collect statistics on usability and utilization. A random sample was used to collect data, and an online survey was given to the research population. A Likert scale with a range of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) was utilized. The results indicated that 147 individuals participated in the survey. More than half were female (85.1%), and more than half were citizens (66%). Tawakkalna was installed on the mobile devices of 97.9% of the population, while 89.4% had Sehaty installed. 38.3% utilize Tawakkalna twice daily, 34.0% utilize it once daily, whereas 61.7% utilize the Sehaty application monthly. The acceptance of Tawakkalna's usability and the interface is 61.7%, while Sehaty's is 57.0%. Information on Tawakkalna is helpful, updated, and accurate to 55.3%, 66%, and 61.7%, respectively. 36.2% of respondents indicated that it is tough to recover from any error, while 34% indicated that it is simple to recover in Tawakalna. 87.2% of the population utilized Tawakkalna's health services. In the instance of Sehaty, the usefulness, frequency of notification updates, rate of recovery, and accuracy of information are 40.4%, 38.3%, 38.3%, and 48.9%, respectively. Tawakkalna was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while 89.4% of the population has been vaccinated with Sehaty. It serves multiple purposes, including health, educational, and tourism application aspects. Before the pandemic, a Sehaty application was utilized to give immunizations. The Mean and Standard Deviation indicate that, except for its usefulness, the Tawakkalna has superior experience in all respects. People use Sehaty to schedule covid-19 immunization sessions © 2022, International Journal of eBusiness and eGovernment Studies.All Rights Reserved.

COVID-19 Tracking Applications Acceptance among General Populace: An Overview in Malaysia

The COVID-19 pandemic forced governments to implement strategies for contact tracing due to the disease's ease of spread. The Malaysian government has sought to develop and implement a digital contact-tracking application to make it easier and faster to detect the spread;the system has become an integral part of the exit strategy from mandated lockdowns. These applications keep track of the user's proximity with others who are in the system to inform them early on if they are at a risk of infection. The effectiveness of these applications depends on the willingness of users to install and allow the application to track their location at all times. Therefore, this research aims to identify the factors that would stimulate or slow down the adoption of contact-tracing apps. © 2023 by the authors.

Were Employee Welfare and Work Commitment Impacted by the High Performance Work System?

The High Performance Work System (HPWS) serves as a decisive tool that enables organizations to prioritize quality work. Despite this, instructors in both public and private higher education do not have a strong enough collective voice to influence its policies at the state and federal levels. This study focuses in particular on the instructors of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan, to investigate the influence of the HPWS on Employee Welfare and Work Commitment in the context of COVID-19. Nineteen items on a 5.0-point Likert scale, with "1” denoting "Strongly Disagree" and "5” indicating "Strongly Agree" was included in a survey for this study that covers its three latent variables, i.e., HPWS, Work Commitment, and Employee's Welfare. 204 teaching professionals/instructors from higher educational institutions, both public and private, made up the study's participant pool. SmartPLS was used in the measurement and structural model analyzes with Confirmatory Factor Analysis and inter-construct correlation of this study. The study concluded that the HPWS has an implicit and substantial impact on Employee Welfare and determined that Work Commitment significantly mediates the association between HPWS and Employee Welfare. This study includes earlier research on HPWS with effective collaboration and opposing viewpoints. This study contributed to the existing literature novel by concentrating on the complexity of Employees' performance and their workplace environment. This study significantly implicates the HR strategists and managers that to enhance employee engagement with their jobs and duties and to improve employee welfare, academic and corporate institutions should have efficient HPWS implemented within their organizations. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

Empowering the Workforce of the Future Through Strategic Data Science Framework to Demystify Digitalization in ADNOC Onshore to Create Sustainable Business Value

Oil and Gas industry is seeking new ways to improve efficiencies, reducing operating costs and increasing revenues in the current volatile market conditions. Data Science and all the new emerging technologies enable the discovery of new opportunities and digitalization is a vital element for making business more effective and efficient. While COVID19 has disrupted the world, ADNOC Onshore has recognized the importance of reskilling and empowering the future workforce through strategic enterprise data science and analytics program to achieve 2030 smart growth strategy. This paper talks about successful approach and enablers for development of in-house capability for transformation that lead to generating significant business value The digital transition can pose both challenges and opportunities in this transformation. ADNOC ONSHORE has developed an integrated framework to encourage and accelerate data science capabilities. This framework promotes a vision with collaborative, sustainable mechanisms to develop talent. It is not just the formal learning and additional professional qualification that make it possible to build this in house capability. There are five major areas are enabled this framework such as data science & analytics skills competency model, sustainable on-line collaborative learning program, organizational culture change, democratizing AI through open platform & a digital business model for performing real business problems/use case PoCs. Each area has a detailed program and execution strategy with a collaborative effort from technical and non-technical stakeholders. ADNOC ONSHORE has successfully implemented this framework and able to certify 20 employees as part of this program. The Data Science Competency Model identified and defined the skills required to be successful within the enterprise with a clear learning path and mentorship. The leadership played a pivotal role to encourage data driven decision making and predictive capabilities in addition to executive awareness to lead the change with clear performance indicators. By democratizing AI platform across upstream user community, six real business cases have been successfully developed with clear business value in subsurface and production workflows according to the defined digital business model. The successful business cases have improved efficiency by 75% in performing cement & corrosion log interpretation & well portfolio optimization. Data driven analytics have been evaluated in subsurface workflows such as infill location optimization, gas-lift candidate identification and they have complemented the existing techniques. The framework has been successfully extended to other group companies in ADNOC. The rapid growth of AI in business in the last five years presents an opportunity for oil and gas professionals for enhancing the skills and transformation. This paper talks about an integrated framework, learning path, democratizing AI, engagement of leadership, digital business model for business case evaluation by applying agile way of working and sustainable value creation. Copyright © 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Blockchain: Tool for Controlling Ransomware through Pre-Encryption and Post-Encryption Behavior

Ransomware is a malware practice which cyber criminals usually inject through phishing practices to make money as their priority. With the high rise in the use of the internet amid the COVID phase, the cyber world is also reaching its peak as well. The attacker is also getting smarter with technology. We in this paper are taking blockchain technology as a weapon to fight against the terror of ransomware attacks, as this is the most notorious and devastating attack of all, and there is no doubt that it is going to be with us in the future too. Detection of ransomware attacks before they infect and decode the data is a complex thing. Several algorithms exist to detect attacks at their early stages, but the lack of information about the pre and post behavior similarities is proving to be an obstacle to accurately observing and detecting ransomware at its very first stage rather than making sense of paying the ransom and even not being sure of getting back the confidentialities. With the use of blockchain technology, we focus on making a record of the pre-encryption and post-encryption behaviour of ransomware attacks so that it is not going to be complex to track the nature, similarities, and behaviour of ransomware attacks. With inaccurate availability of data about pre and post behaviour of attacks and also weak design of detection models, both have a negative impact on selecting the features and similarities of the attack and thus developing a design model for the same. The paper is focusing on one of the most challenging variations of ransomware attacks, i.e., the crypto ransomware. Many researches before proposed solutions as performing regular backup of files but this measure has a significant overhead too as key backup schemes results in high computational cost as well. Thus, with the use of blockchain for gathering and maintaining records, we expect to be prepared for every unexpected attack. © 2022 IEEE.

Immunogenetics: A Molecular and Clinical Overview A Molecular Approach to Immunogenetics

A Molecular Approach to Immunogenetics, Immunogenetics: A Molecular and Clinical Overview, Volume One provides readers with an exclusive, updated overview on the scientific knowledge, achievements and findings in the field of immunogenetics. The book presents readily available, updated information on the molecular and clinical aspects of immunogenetics, from origin and development to clinical applications and future prospects. The breadth of information goes from basics to developments, clinical applications and future prospects. The book's most attractive attribute is its academic and clinical amalgamation that covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of immunogenetics. An additional feature of the book is a special chapter on viral genetics that covers COVID-19. Above all, the book contains chapters that discuss immunogenetics in relation to pharmaco-genomics and immune-toxicology. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Clinical Efficacy of Early Administration of Convalescent Plasma among COVID-19 Cases in Egypt

BACKGROUND: The rapid worldwide spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) or COVID-19 pandemic from its epicenter;Wuhan was first reported in December 2019. Egypt reported its first COVID-19 case on February 14, 2020. Thereafter, Egypt scaled-up preventive measures, with a partial lockdown starting on March 25. Several therapeutic agents along with convalescent plasma transfusion (CPT) are under investigation and data from CPTs have been receiving a lot of attention, after Emergency approvals from the Food and Drug Administration suggesting that it may provide a clinical effect in the treatment of SARS-COV-2. IMPORTANCE: Early and effective treatment of COVID-19 is vital for control of SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: Designs: An interventional, single-arm, and non-randomized clinical trial conducted in Egypt from April 15 to July 21, 2020. Settings: This was a multi-center study conducted in three hospitals in Egypt. Participants: A total of 94 COVID-19 laboratory-confirmed patients using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were enrolled in the study. Intervention: All patients were administered with two plasma units (each unit is 200 cc). The volume of donated plasma was 800 cc. Main Outcome and measures: Primary measure was the degree of clinical improvement among the COVID-19 patients who received CPT within 7 days. RESULTS: A total of 94 patients were enrolled who received CPT either within 7 days or after 7 days of hospitalization. 82 were severely ill and 12 were critically ill. The average age remained 58 years (±standard deviation 15.1 years). Male were 69% and 49% patients got cured while 51% died with case fatality rate 51%. Seventy-five percent deaths were above 45 years of age. The symptoms were dyspnea (55%), fever (52%), cough (46%), and loss of taste and smell (21%), and cyanosis (15%). The most common co-morbidities among the <40 years remained diabetes mellitus (21%) and asthma (14%). Among 40–60 years hypertension (56%), diabetes mellitus (39%) and among >60 years age group hypertension (57%), and chronic heart disease (24%) were reported. CPT within 7 days remained significant as compared with the CPT after 7 days with the number of days to cure (p=0.007) and ICU stay (p = 0.008) among severely ill cured cases. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with COVID-19 and severe or critical illness, the use of CPT along with routine standard therapy resulted in a statistically significant improvement when administered within seven days of hospital admission. However, plasma transfusion, irrespective of days to transfusion may not help treat critically ill patients. The overall mean time to cure in severely ill patients was 15 days if CPT provided within 7 days with 65% cure rate. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Intervention identifier: MOHP_COVID-19_Ver1.1 registered April 2020.

Urban Change in Cities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of the Nexus of Factors from Around the World

This research is concerned with understanding the context of influences the COVID-19 pandemic had/has on urban change in cities. It focuses on understanding the nexus of relations through which the pandemic impacted the urban space, urban place and public realm;specifically, the economic, environmental, social, human behavior, administrative and health factors. Using a mixed-methods approach and examples from around the world, an analysis was conducted to highlight the most important factors influencing urban change as a result of the pandemic. The research concluded that there are a multitude of direct and indirect connections between the factors that resulted in long-term and short-term impact on urban change and public realm. An understanding of this nexus of factors constitutes an important and essential step in creating more comprehensive and responsive urban planning/design policies. Thus, mitigating any undesirable urban change and better governing the public realm during similar situations and pandemics in the future. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Non-traditional Delivery of Hands-on Manufacturing Courses

Due to recent COVID-19 social distancing policies and procedures, there was no way to offer hands-on courses in an on-site format for many education institutions. The solution employed by many educators was to find new ways to implement web-based delivery tools and technologies in order to maintain course learning outcomes and help students successfully grasp course content. In this review paper, a number of innovative practices is highlighted used to deliver course content in several ways. Overall, the paper reports a number of available delivery mechanisms that could be implemented for several manufacturing courses and programs. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Investigation of COVID-19 and scientific analysis big data analytics with the help of machine learning

This book chapter presents the review of COVID-19 and its status, as well as the scientific Analysis big data analytics with the help of machine learning. We provide in-depth literature review, and provide a summary of the current AI and machine learning methods, which have become increasingly important to provide accurate analyses. Various conceptual diagrams have been used to illustrate how different technologies can contribute to effective analyses for COVID-19. We demonstrate our work from both theoretical contributions and practical implementations. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Green synthesized silver nanoparticles using Cyperus rotundus L. extract as a potential antiviral agent against infectious laryngotracheitis and infectious bronchitis viruses in chickens

Background: Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) and infectious bronchitis (IB) are two common respiratory diseases of poultry that inflict great economic burden on the poultry industry. Developing an effective agent against both viruses is a crucial step to decrease the economic losses. Therefore, for the first time green synthesized silver nanoparticles using Cyperus rotundus L. aqueous extract was evaluated in vitro as a potential antiviral against both viruses. Results: Silver nanoparticles from Cyperus rotundus were characterized by the spherical shape, 11-19 nm size, and zeta potential of - 6.04 mV. The maximum nontoxic concentration (MNTC) was 50 mu g mL(-1 )for both viruses without harmful toxicity impact. The study suggested that some of the compounds in C. rotundus extract (gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, and naringenin) or its silver nanoparticles could interact with the external envelope proteins of both viruses, and inhibiting extracellular viruses. Conclusions: The results highlight that C. rotundus green synthesized silver nanoparticles could have antiviral activity against infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in chickens.

Strong anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of Lucilia cuprina maggots’ excretion/secretion and its effect on viral entry and notch pathway in vitro: First work

The global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 requires new lines of treatment to hinder viral entry and pathogenesis. Lucilia cuprina maggots’ excretion/secretion (E/S) contains proteases and antioxidants, among other active ingredients that contribute to its antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activity. This study aims to assess the potential effects of E/S on the entry and molecular pathogenesis of a SARS-CoV-2 isolate “NRC-03-nhCoV” in vitro for the first time. E/S was obtained from the collected maggots of L. cuprina that were maintained under controlled laboratory conditions. The E/S was used to treat VERO-E6 cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. The predicted antiviral activity of the E/S and the expression of the Notch pathway and viral pathogenesis-related genes were assessed at three time points. E/S showed potential antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 (IC50 = 0.324 µg/ml) with a high selectivity index value (SI = 572.997). Serine protease present in E/S was predicted to interact with transmembrane protease, serine 2 and cathepsin B. E/S was able to significantly downregulate Notch-related genes, SUMO1, and TDG in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells, shifting their expression toward levels of the control. Therefore, E/S of L. cuprina maggots is a potential strong inhibitor for SARS-CoV-2. © 2022. Mohammad R. K. Abdel-Samad et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Assessing Brunei Darussalam Public and Private Sector Readiness Towards Big Data Application

This exploratory study aims to assess and investigate Brunei Darussalam's readiness in developing and applying big data technologies for its public and private sectors, using the social, technological, environmental, and policy (STEP) framework. The results show that the population are digitally literate (social) and utilise smart devices as well as internet network connectivity that is widely offered by the local telecommunications company (technology). The government of Brunei Darussalam established multiple digital transformation initiatives including implementation of 5G connectivity as well as digital economy masterplan to digitally transformed in the near future (environment). Regardless of the absence of national digital data privacy policy (policy) in Brunei, the recent nation's successful big data application in public sector-BruHealth Application-to contain COVID-19 community spread was achieved. The existence of such policy in the near future will create opportunities for the local private sectors to capitalise on big data technologies to their business strategies.

Possible correlation between the probiotic activity of bacterial honey isolates and the in vitro inhibition of coronavirus 2 replication responsible for acute respiratory syndromes

Various strategies, like those using vaccines and antibiotics, have been examined for the prevention and treatment of virus's diseases, but until this moment infection control is not at sufficient level. Exopolysaccharides, especially from probiotics, became one of the most innovative approaches for antiviral agents. This research tried to highlight the effect of a probiotic polysaccharide, such as levan, in COVID-19 prevention. Accordingly, 5 levans types previously obtained from bacterial honey isolates were tested against COVID-19. The most promising result was recorded with levans from Pseudomonas aeruginosa HI1 (levAE) and Bacillus subtilis 9A (lev9A). The lowest cytotoxicity was obtained from lev9A (CC50=5.567e+006 mg/ml) and the most promising IC50 was obtained by levAE (10.75 mg/ml) followed by lev13M (142.5 mg/ml) then lev9A (1299 mg/ml). The dialysis process of levAE greatly affected the virus inhibition activity (IC50 of levAE/D =7.773e+006 mg/ml). Pseudomonas aeruginosa HI1 and Bacillus subtilis 9A were highly tolerant to the acidic (pHs 2, 3) and alkaline conditions (pHs 9, 11). Moreover, when incubated with 0.3 bile salt for 24h, their surviving rates recorded 94% and 100% respectively. H2O2 tolerance showed 77% surviving of Pseudomonas aeruginosa HI1 and 100% surviving of Bacillus subtilis 9A. The blood hemolysis and the antibiotics sensitivity tests confirmed the isolate's safety. The hypothesis that the isolates adhere to the lung cells, could explain the ability of the isolates and their levans to inhibit covid-19 replication. © 2022 National Information and Documentation Center.

Financial decision making and Foreign Direct Investment in the era of COVID-19 and beyond: Evidence from India

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays an imperative role for the growth of the business sector and contributes to a significant level towards economic growth. It facilitates flow of funds towards poor and developing countries to establish business units, to raise their production capacity and to offer ample employment opportunities to unemployed youth, to raise labor skills by transfer of technology and managerial know-how, thereby FDI tries to assimilate domestic economy with the global economy. But because of COVID-19, there is a massive setback for various countries in attracting FDI, India is not an exception to it. The present study tries to critically analyze the impact of ongoing pandemic on FDI inflows in India. Thus, an attempt has been made in this study to ascertain the impact of COVID-19 on FDI in India and make recommendations to attract more FDI.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Instability of Stock Markets: An Empirical Analysis Using Panel Vector Error Correction Model

The objective of this research is to examine the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock markets in a few developing and developed countries. This study uses daily data from January 2020 to May 2021 and obtained from World Health Organization and Thomson Reuters. The secondary data was evaluated through panel econometric methodology that includes different unit root tests, and to analyze the longrun relationship between variables, panel cointegration techniques were applied. The long-run causality among variables was examined through Panel Vector Error Correction Model. The overall findings of this study suggest a long-run association exists between several cases and death with the stock returns of the GCC and other stock markets. Furthermore, the VECM model also identified a long-run causality running from COVID cases and death towards the stock rerun of both sets of stock markets. However, a subsequent Wald test yielded mixed results, indicating no short-run causality between cases and deaths and stock returns in both groups;however, in the case of GCC, several COVID-19 cases are having a causal impact on stock markets, which is notable in light of the fact that the death rate in GCC is significantly lower than in many developed and developing countries.