Stock returns, government response strategies, and daily new case bursts during COVID ‐19: A cross‐country perspective

The purpose of the current research is to examine the influence of COVID-19 pandemic related governmental policies and the bursts (e.g., drastic increases in cases during certain periods) of COVID-19 cases on the abnormal returns of 725 hospitality and entertainment companies from the United States (US), China, the United Kingdom (UK), India, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico, and France. The study uses daily data from January 1, 2020, to November 20, 2021 and event study methodology. Our results offer the following insights. First, the response in the early days of COVID-19 was negative for both the hospitality and entertainment sectors. Second, regarding government response strategies: (1) announcements of stimulus packages negatively affected China's entertainment and the UK's hospitality and entertainment sectors, but positively impacted the US's hospitality sector;(2) lockdown announcements adversely affected abnormal returns only in the US's hospitality and entertainment sectors;and (3) travel restrictions affected the US hospitality and Chinese and Indian entertainment sectors in the early stages of the pandemic. Third, regarding COVID-19 case bursts, the results showed more negative abnormal returns during the first burst in the developed countries compared to undeveloped countries, while in the second burst, investors reacted more rationally, resulting in less negative abnormal returns. Conversely, more negative abnormal returns were found in the second bursts in India and Turkey. We conclude that COVID-19's impact differed between developed and developing countries. Our findings suggest that investors should consider these differential effects when devising their portfolio strategies during COVID-19 or the similar situations.

An outlook on the development of renewable energy, policy measures to reshape the current energy mix, and how to achieve sustainable economic growth in the post COVID-19 era.

Currently, COVID-19 due to emergence of various variants shows no signs of slowing down and has affected every aspect of life with significant negative impact on economic and energy structures around the world. As a result, the governments around the world have introduced policy responses to help businesses and industrial units to overcome the consequences of compliance with COVID-19 strategies. Our analysis indicates that global energy sector is one of the most severely affected industries as energy price mechanisms, energy demand, and energy supply have shown great uncertainty under these unprecedented economic and social changes. In this regard, we provide brief overview of demand, supply, and pricing structure of energy products as well as policy mechanisms to provide better outlook about how industrial sector can cope with energy consumption in the post pandemic era. We further propose changes in the existing policy mechanisms so that transition towards renewable energy sources under different environmental agreements can be achieved. Moreover, as a reference, we outline major challenges and policy recommendations to ease energy transition from fossil fuels to environmental friendly energy mix.

Investigating the Co-movement Nexus Between Air Quality, Temperature, and COVID-19 in California: Implications for Public Health

This research aims to look at the link between environmental pollutants and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in California. To illustrate the COVID-19 outbreak, weather, and environmental pollution, we used daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients, average daily temperature, and air quality Index, respectively. To evaluate the data from March 1 to May 24, 2020, we used continuous wavelet transform and then applied partial wavelet coherence (PWC), wavelet transform coherence (WTC), and multiple wavelet coherence (MWC). Empirical estimates disclose a significant association between these series at different time-frequency spaces. The COVID-19 outbreak in California and average daily temperature show a negative (out phase) coherence. Similarly, the air quality index and COVID-19 also show a negative association circle during the second week of the observed period. Our findings will serve as policy implications for state and health officials and regulators to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

Long-term statistical assessment of meteorological indicators and COVID-19 outbreak in hot and arid climate, Bahrain.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global lifestyle, and the spreading of the virus is unprecedented. This study is aimed at assessing the association between the meteorological indicators such as air temperature (°C), relative humidity (%), wind speed (w/s), solar radiation, and PM2.5 with the COVID-19 infected cases in the hot, arid climate of Bahrain. Kendall and Spearman rank correlation coefficients and quantile on quantile regression were used as main econometric analysis to determine the degree of the relationship between related variables. The dataset analysis was performed from 05 April 2020, to 10 January 2021. The empirical findings indicate that the air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed indicators, and PM2.5 have a significant association with the COVID-19 newly infected cases. The current study findings allow us to suggest that Bahrain's relatively successful response to neighboring GULF economies can be attributed to the successful environmental reforms and significant upgrades to the health care facilities. We further report that a long-term empirical analysis between meteorological factors and respiratory illness threats will provide useful policy measures against future outbreaks.

Environmental quality, climate indicators, and COVID-19 pandemic: insights from top 10 most affected states of the USA.

In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are working with health professionals to inform governments on how to formulate health strategies. In this study, we examine the correlation between environmental and climate indicators and COVID-19 outbreak in the top 10 most affected states of the USA. In doing so, PM2.5, temperature, humidity, environmental quality index, and rainfall are included as crucial meteorological and environmental factors. Kendall and Spearman rank correlation coefficients, quantile regression, and log-linear negative binominal analysis are employed as an estimation strategy. The empirical estimates conclude that temperature, humidity, environmental quality index, PM2.5, and rainfall are significant factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the top 10 most affected states of the USA. The empirical findings of the current study would serve as key policy input to mitigate the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the USA.

Nexus Between the COVID-19 Dynamics and Environmental Pollution Indicators in South America.

INTRODUCTION: In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are working with health professionals to inform governments to slow the virus's spread. The extant research contribution has been dedicated to examining the impact of climate indicators such as temperature, humidity, and rainfall. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding their combined association between environmental quality and climate indicators to combat COVID-19 in the South American context. METHODS: In this study, we collected data for environmental pollution indicators for the South America region, and correlation analysis and wavelet transform coherence were used as the analytical tools. RESULTS: Empirical estimates conclude that PM10, NO2, CO, and O3 are significant factors in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in South America. IMPLICATIONS: Our findings will serve as policy implications for the state, health officials, and regulators to combat the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in South America.

Environmental pollution and COVID-19 outbreak: insights from Germany.

The impact of environmental pollutants and climate indicators on the outbreak of COVID-19 has gained considerable attention in the recent literature. However, specific investigation of industrial economies like Germany is not available. This provides us motivation to examine the association between environmental pollutants, climate indicators and the COVID-19 cases, recoveries, and deaths in Germany using daily data from February 24, 2020, to July 02, 2020. The correlation analysis and wavelet transform coherence (WTC) approach are the analytical tools, which are used to explore the association between variables included in the study. Our findings indicate that PM2.5, O3, and NO2 have a significant relationship with the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition, temperature is the only significant climate indicator which has significant correlation with the spread of COVID-19. Finally, PM10, humidity, and environmental quality index have a significant relationship only with the active cases from COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings conclude that Germany's successful response to COVID-19 is attributed to environmental legislation and the medical care system, which oversaw significant overhaul after the SARS and MERS outbreaks. The current study implicates that other industrial economies, especially European economies, that are still facing COVID-19 outbreak can follow the German model for pandemic response.

A brief review of socio-economic and environmental impact of Covid-19.

In recent months, Covid-19 has caused significant global social and economic distress. Governments and health officials around the world have introduced mandatory preventive measures to combat Covid-19, i.e., hand sanitizers, gloves, and masks, which have contributed to large quantities of medical wastes. Social distancing and mandatory lockdown have also been put in place to protect people from Covid-19. This epidemic has caused severe demographic changes and unemployment, and economic activities have been shut down to save human lives. Transportation and travel industries are most severely hit as global tourism has fallen to almost zero in recent months; as a solution, economic institutes have introduced stimulus packages worth more than $6 trillion. However, restricted economic activities have also contributed towards a cleaner environment. However, environmental changes are not permanent, and the pollution level may rise again in the future. As a result, current research suggests that policymakers must introduce stringent environmental policies to promote clean energy.

Fear and agony of the pandemic leading to stress and mental illness: An emerging crisis in the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The outbreak of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), later named as a pandemic affecting nearly 210 countries and territories has led to negative emotions of fear and agony in the general population and healthcare staff professionals. The healthcare regulators and the governments have imposed emergencies and lockdowns in their countries which has led to an adverse effect on the mental health of people ultimately leading to a rise in anxiety, depression, and associated mental illness. The fear and uncertainty increased by the COVID-19 crisis are putting extreme pressure on our finite resources. This report aims to synthesis the dilemma of mental illness as a result of pandemic and initiates suggestions to help the general public, healthcare professionals, and workers mitigate the negative emotions to improve the mental wellbeing in this detached period of isolation.

Correlation between environmental pollution indicators and COVID-19 pandemic: A brief study in Californian context.

In December 2019, the novel coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak was first detected in Wuhan Hubei province, China. The April 24, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) has confirmed more than 39,000 cases, including >1800 deaths. California's Governor Gavin Newsom ordered mandatory stay at home after World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic in early March. We have evaluated the correlation between environmental pollution determinants and the COVID-19 outbreak in California by using the secondary published data from the Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Pollution Agency (EPA). We employed Spearman and Kendall correlation tests to analyze the association of PM 2.5, PM 10, SO2, NO2, Pb, VOC, and CO with COVID-19 cases in California. Our findings indicate that environmental pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and CO have a significant correlation with the COVID-19 epidemic in California. Overall, our study is a useful supplement to encourage regulatory bodies to promote changes in environmental policies as pollution source control can reduce the harmful effects of environmental pollutants.

Role of electronic media in mitigating the psychological impacts of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The current research initiative focuses on the role of Pakistani media in eliminating panic and depression among health practitioners and the general public due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). In Pakistan, electronic media is the most common source of information due to the higher rural population and the lower literacy rate and media's handling of COVID-19 coverage so far creates panic and depression. We suggest that special televised transmissions featuring psychologists and physiatrists should be aired to reduce the panic. Media also mitigates the stress of frontline medical staff by paying special attributes to them.

Correlation between climate indicators and COVID-19 pandemic in New York, USA.

This study analyzed the association between COVID-19 and climate indicators in New York City, USA. We used secondary published data from New York city health services and National weather service, USA. The climate indicators included in the study are average temperature, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, rainfall, average humidity, wind speed, and air quality. Kendall and Spearman rank correlation tests were chosen for data analysis. We find that average temperature, minimum temperature, and air quality were significantly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study will help World Health Organization and health regulators such as Center for Disease Control (CDC) to combat COVID-19 in New York and the rest of the world.