ABSTRACT
The influence of oil price volatility on significant international macroeconomic indicators is examined empirically. The vector auto-regression (VAR) system is used to examine the influence of oil price volatility. According to the Granger causality test, impulse response functions, and variance decomposition, economic recovery and investment have been significantly affected by oil price volatility from 2000Q1 to 2020Q4. According to this research, business investment and oil prices have shown great power throughout the international economic meltdown. Volatility in economic activity and oil prices are expected during this crisis, according to the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, in the international financial crisis and COVID-19 crises, oil prices and economic growth are strongly linked. We propose that the COVID-19 epidemic and the global financial problems have major effects on economic activity when oil prices fall. The COVID-19 epidemic had the greatest total connectedness between oil prices and economic activities, which suggests that the speed of information propagation between the oil market and financial initiatives was greater during the COVID-19 outbreak than during past global financial crises. There are important consequences for policymakers based on the findings of this research.
ABSTRACT
Like rest of the world, the South Asian region is facing enormous challenges with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The socioeconomic context of the eight South Asian countries is averse to any long-term lockdown program, but the region still observed stringent lockdown close to two months. This paper analyzed major measures in public health preparedness and responses in those countries in the pandemic. The research was based on a situation analysis to discuss appropriate plan for epidemic preparedness, strategies for prevention and control measures, and adequate response management mechanism. Based on the data from March 21 to June 26, 2020, it appeared lockdown program along with other control measures were not as effective to arrest the exponential growth of fortnightly COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. However, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka have been successfully limiting the spread of the disease. The in-depth analysis of prevention and control measures espoused densely populated context of South Asia needs community-led intervention strategy, such as case containment, in order to reverse the growing trend, and adopt the policy of mitigation instead of suppression to formulate COVID-19 action plan. On the other hand, mechanism for response management encompassed a four-tier approach of governance to weave community-led local bodies with state, national and international governance actors for enhancing the countries' emergency operation system. It is concluded resource-crunch countries in South Asia are unable to cope with the disproportionate demand of capital and skilled health care workforce at the time of the pandemic. Hence, response management needs an approach of governance maximization instead of resource maximization. The epidemiologic management of population coupled with suitable public health prevention and control measures may be a more appropriate strategy to strike a balance between economy and population health during the time of pandemic.
Subject(s)
Coronavirus Infections/prevention & control , Influenza, Human/prevention & control , Pandemics/prevention & control , Pneumonia, Viral/prevention & control , Practice Guidelines as Topic , Pulmonary Medicine/standards , Vaccination/methods , COVID-19 , Child , Child, Preschool , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Female , Global Health , Humans , Infant , Influenza Vaccines/administration & dosage , Influenza, Human/epidemiology , Male , Patient Safety , Pediatrics , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Seasons , World Health OrganizationABSTRACT
In the early February, 2020, we called up an experts' committee with more than 30 Chinese experts from 11 national medical academic organizations to formulate the first edition of consensus statement on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children, which has been published in this journal. With accumulated experiences in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in children, we have updated the consensus statement and released the second edition recently. The current version in English is a condensed version of the second edition of consensus statement on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in children. In the current version, diagnosis and treatement criteria have been optimized, and early identification of severe and critical cases is highlighted. The early warning indicators for severe pediatric cases have been summarized which is utmost important for clinical practice. This version of experts consensus will be valuable for better prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in children worldwide.