The Emergence of Novel Coronavirus Disease, Global Treatment Update and its Containment Strategies in Overpopulated Countries: A Review

The ongoing pandemic of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has created a major challenge for the public health worldwide. The reported cases indicate that the outbreak is more widespread than initially assumed. Around 18 million people have been infected with 689,000 reported deaths (August 2020;the number is increasing daily);with a high mutation rate, this virus poses an even more serious threat worldwide. The actual source of COVID-19 is still un-clear;even if the initial reports link it to the Chinese seafood wet market in Wuhan, other animals such as birds, snakes, and many small mammals including bats are also linked with this novel coro-navirus. The structure of the COVID-19 shows distinctive proteins among which spike proteins have a pivotal role in host cell attachment and virus-cell membrane fusion in order to facilitate virus infection. Currently, no specific antiviral treatment or vaccine is available. Various drug can-didates, including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV protease inhibitors, neuraminidase inhibitors, RNA synthesis inhibitors, ACE2 inhibitors and lungs supportive therapy, are under trials. Cell-based therapy also appeared with remarkable treatment possibilities. In this article, we endeavored to succinctly cover the current and available treatment options, including pharmaceuticals, cell-based therapy, and traditional medicine. We also focused on the extent of damages by this novel coron-avirus in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh;the strategies adopted and the research activities initiat-ed so far by these densely populated countries (neighboring China) are explained in this review.Copyright © 2021 Bentham Science Publishers.

Uncovering risk transmission between socially responsible investments, alternative energy investments and the implied volatility of major commodities

The interconnectedness and high integration among the global markets have reduced the portfolio diversification opportunities of international investors. In view of this, considering the rise of Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) and the Clean-Renewable energy & Clean-Technology energy (C&RTE) asset classes, the objective of this research is to examine risk transmission and the portfolio diversification prospects across the SRI, C&RTE, and the implied volatility indices (VIX) of major commodities (oil, silver, and the gold). To uncover the spillover and the risk transmission, we employ the approach of Dynamic conditional correlation (DCC-GARCH) along with the Asymmetric DCC-GARCH and VAR-GARCH. The findings exhibit a strong ability of volatility indices to hedge risks associated with SRIs and C&RTE investments as asymmetric-GARCH confirms that volatility indices have a negative correlation with most of the socially responsible and clean energy and technology equity indices. The findings confirm that the implied volatility indices of gold and silver exhibit the best hedging tool against SRIs while oil is the best hedging tool for C&RTE. During Covid-19, generally oil price volatility index is positively correlated with SRI indices whereas the silver and the gold volatility indices are negatively correlated with the C&RTE. More importantly, we find that hedging effectiveness and risk diversification are facilitated by the adaptive behavior of commodities, confirmed by the Adaptive Market Hypothesis (AMH) through the Generalized Spectral (GS) test. Moreover, we also find some evidence of a time-varying pattern in the hedging ratio and the hedging effectiveness. Finally, we show utility gains from hedging to be positive irrespective of whether we consider transaction costs or not. The findings of the study could be helpful for portfolio managers, brokers, and market participants to draw the role of implied volatilities of commodities in hedging the risk associated with SRIs and C&RTE investments. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Data analytics and knowledge management approach for COVID-19 prediction and control.

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, continues to be a global threat. The major global concern among scientists and researchers is to develop innovative digital solutions for prediction and control of infection and to discover drugs for its cure. In this paper we developed a strategic technical solution for surveillance and control of COVID-19 in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). This work aims to elucidate the Delhi COVID-19 Data Management Framework, the backend mechanism of integrated Command and Control Center (iCCC) with plugged-in modules for various administrative, medical and field operations. Based on the time-series data extracted from iCCC repository, the forecasting of COVID-19 spread has been carried out for Delhi using the Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model as it can effectively predict the logistics requirements, active cases, positive patients, and death rate. The intelligence generated through this research has paved the way for the Government of National Capital Territory Delhi to strategize COVID-19 related policies formulation and implementation on real time basis. The outcome of this innovative work has led to the drastic reduction in COVID-19 positive cases and deaths in Delhi-NCR.

DO ISLAMIC CRYPTOCURRENCIES PROVIDE DIVERSIFICATION OPPORTUNITIES TO INDONESIAN ISLAMIC INVESTORS?

This study examines whether Islamic gold-backed cryptocurrencies (Onegram and X8X) provide any diversification benefits to the Islamic investors of Indonesia. We study the co-movements between return and volatility of cryptocurrencies and Indonesian Islamic equity indices during the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods. We employ Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic-Dynamic Conditional Correlation (M-GARCH-DCC) and Continuous Wavelet Transforms (CWT) for this study. We find that the COVID-19 crisis enhanced the spillover effect among the Islamic gold-backed cryptocurrencies and Islamic equities. We also provide evidence that Indonesian investors may invest in cryptocurrencies to minimize the equity sector risks during the pandemic. Our results bear significant implications for portfolio diversification strategies for Indonesian investors. © 2021 Asociación Española de Historia Económica.

Concerns of University Students Regarding COVID-19 Lockdown: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey in Karachi, Pakistan

Aim: To assess the concerns of university students regarding COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: A Cross-Sectional online survey was conducted among student population living in different socio-economical areas of Karachi. Information was gathered on their age, gender, education level, occupation status, area of residence, and knowledge about lockdown due to Covid-19. These variables were examined according to the socio-economic status of the area where students reside. Results: A total of 200 subjects above 20 years were interviewed out of which data was analyzed for 160 subjects. The majority of students were between the ages of 20-25 years, females, Muslims, and unemployed. According to 86.9% of students COVID- 19 can be prevented by avoiding contact and almost 74.4% students were in favor of lockdown further 37.5% students wanted no gaps between lockdowns. In this study, 31.3% spent time using phones while 15% spent time reading while 22% of the students spent their time in physical activity. Almost 66.3% of students did not develop any psychological problems. About 77.5% did not face any financial problems. Conclusion: Most of the respondents were in favor of lockdown as COVID-19 spread can be prevented by avoiding contact. Study highlighted COVID-19 lockdown had no effect on mental health of the respondents. This study will help in creating awareness regarding lockdown. It will enlighten new arenas for public health experts and stakeholders to develop new strategies, and interventions and predict a preparedness program plan for future Pandemic.

iQMS: IoT-based QMS framework for tracking of quarantined subjects.

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease as a pandemic has resulted in a huge saddle on health infrastructure. Preventive measures such as quarantine, social distancing, isolation, and community containment play a pivotal role to contain the spread of exponentially growing COVID cases. This huge burden permitted authorities for institutional/home quarantine for the suspected persons. The biggest challenge for institutional/home quarantine is to monitor and track the movement of quarantined persons. These suspected cases pose a serious threat in outbreak and transmission of the disease. In this paper, an intelligent-Quarantine Monitoring System (iQMS) has been presented which comprises of a wearable IoT-based wristband, bundled with an android mobile app to track and report the absconding quarantined subjects in near real-time. The iQMS incorporates a cloud-based solution with IoT sensors using a global positioning system (GPS) based tracker for geo-fencing breach. The proposed system will facilitate the authorities in remote monitoring and tracking of identified subjects.

Understanding market reaction to covid-19 monetary and fiscal stimulus in major asean countries

In this paper, we examine the effect of fiscal and monetary policy stimulus actions during the COVID-19 pandemic on the stock markets of four ASEAN countries, namely, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Using time-series regression models, we show the relative importance of monetary and fiscal policies. Our findings suggest that 7-days after the policy announcement, fiscal policies helped cushion financial market losses in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. We do not find any robust evidence of policy effectiveness for Malaysia. While our investigation is preliminary it opens an additional avenue for understanding the effectiveness of policy stimulus. © 2021 Bank Indonesia Institute. All Rights Reserved.

To Predicit the Layout of COVID-19 by Using ARIMA Model

It has been observed that a sudden spurt in the number of COVID positive cases reported in the November 2020. The state government has started taking measure to prevent the spread of pandemic and to avert any probable fresh wave of COVID-19 as observed in some European countries. Moreover, winters are setting up in the northern regions of the country including Haryana which is argued as favorable condition for spread of the pandemic by some researchers. Ample data on COVID is now available about the pattern of spread of COVID-19 in the country as almost nine months have elapsed since the first positive COVID case was detected in India. This paper is designed to analyze the data based on district Gurugram of Haryana, COVID’s carriers effectiveness of the measures taken by the government, till now, to contain the spread of pandemic may also be inferred upon by the observations during this work. Finally, the significance of apprehension regarding onset of fresh wave of COVID may be predicted though the model. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Financial Market Risks during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article examines the nature of time-varying systematic risk for both Islamic and non-Islamic sectoral indices during COVID-19. The novelty lies in the analysis of behavioral changes in beta as the global health crisis moved from an epidemic to a pandemic. Using daily stock market return data on 10 different industry sectors, we show that both Islamic and conventional indices depict a similar pattern, but Islamic equities exhibit lower risk, indicating a subdued reaction to market movements. However, as the COVID-19 evolves from an epidemic to a pandemic the trend changes, with Consumer Services, Financials, Healthcare, and Oil & Gas sector betas depicting an overreaction in Islamic equities. These results remain robust to multiple additional tests. On this basis, we argue that a lower systematic risk of Islamic equities can offer portfolio diversification opportunities. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.