Covid-19, Lockdown and repercussions

[bryant.coleman]

Limiting all activities is of course very detrimental for the middle and lower class here, the government requires working from home that only applies to those who have their own businesses who can use an internet connection or office workers who can complete their tasks on a computer screen
For middle class workers such as daily workers, entrepreneurs, small traders, of course, will be greatly affected by the restrictions caused by this pandemic

For blue collar workers, working from home is not available. Unless the COVID 19 spread is extremely high, the government needs to allow these people to work in their respective facilities. Ideally, they should be vaccinated before this. But right now none of the countries are having enough doses to vaccinate the non-priority groups. However, if they wear masks properly and maintain social distancing, then the chance of getting infected can be reduced.

[1714930974]

1714930974

[shoreno]

Limiting all activities is of course very detrimental for the middle and lower class here, the government requires working from home that only applies to those who have their own businesses who can use an internet connection or office workers who can complete their tasks on a computer screen
For middle class workers such as daily workers, entrepreneurs, small traders, of course, will be greatly affected by the restrictions caused by this pandemic

For blue collar workers, working from home is not available. Unless the COVID 19 spread is extremely high, the government needs to allow these people to work in their respective facilities. Ideally, they should be vaccinated before this. But right now none of the countries are having enough doses to vaccinate the non-priority groups. However, if they wear masks properly and maintain social distancing, then the chance of getting infected can be reduced.

but is the spread of covid isnt that high ? i think its already high because everyday there are cases that are being reported but still they dont have a choice but to open some business and allow workers to continue working because its not possible for those workers to work from home due to the nature of thier jobs  . i dont think vaccinces are running out because many people avoid to get vaccinated but workers are not going to avoid the vaccines because it was required by every company  . workers are also the ones that can follow health protocols properly because they are being monitored all day .

[doomloop]

We've been in lockdown since the early days of November, only retail has been reopened and even that isn't open in every region due to a rise of cases in them. Moreover, the recent surge of cases throughout the whole country might be leading to a 3rd lockdown (like it is much different from now). Definitely, the economic repercussions are huge throughout the world, since most countries have taken extreme measures in order to suppress the pandemic. However, the combination of financial depression and quarantine, could lead to clinical depression in a respectable percentage of the population.

Seeing it from my point of view, being in home, almost 24/7, while the supermarket or to the pharmacy being the only way out is depressing and driving me nuts. We can also go out for exercise/walking. I'm living in a region that is characterized as "Red zone", everything closes at 5.30 p.m, while we cannot leave the house after 6pm. My only escape is going out cycling every once in a while.

In my country the lockdown has already been over since , we didn’t go for another one, though we did for lockdown about three to four times, but all that happened in last year and to be sincere it wasn’t an easy situation and people couldn’t take it, and this time around as I am seeing it I don’t think that anybody is ready to go for that lockdown again.

And the lockdown really resulted into situations that I don’t like that much, things that wouldn’t have happened if there was no lockdown at all. The country has been in such a mess, but I believe by God’s grace we will get through everything that has been happening.

[Vishnu.Reang]

most of the European countries are undergoing a hard lockdown by local governments in my opinion unjustified, where I am we are already in the third wave of the virus the infections alternate between many and few therefore red zone until the best situation, who had a precarious work now has to deal with poverty

European countries can afford multiple phases of lockdowns because the governments have enough cash at hand to compensate the workers and the businesses. But that is not the case in developed nations such as India and Pakistan. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of poor people increased by almost 100% in India, as a result of the pandemic in just 12 months of 2020-21.

[mezzaluna]

Exactly. This covid 19 pandemic will definitely leave negative remarks to every country as it affects all the aspects to live a normal life. Lot of people have struggle to find jobs for their own and when this pandemic came, everyone loses their jobs in a sudden. Even big and established companies have greatly affected and resulted into closure which loses the jobs of millions of people.

For those countries that have hard time dealing with it. Flattening the curve is hard and that's really making their economies struggling.

Many have lost jobs and businesses have closed and went into bankrupt. That's one of the effect that we cannot really forget as the result of this pandemic.

People lost jobs means that there will many that have to deal with hunger because that can also effect them having no food to bring into their table.

Some government officials have so much pride that they dont want to copy or set other countries as an example and the result of their stubbornness is the suffering of their countrymen. In our country, we are gonna enter another Lock down or quarantine period in which they are only changing the names so people would not get suspicious but the way they are addressing the problem is lacking because we are already given the resources but they don't know how to use it. They have set another lock down but there will be no food that will delivered within communities which is really weird because its like they do not know that not all families have stocked food.

[Ultegra134]

It has been about a year since the COVID-19 pandemic is still running, and there is no sign that this pandemic is coming to an end. Already many
people are frustrated and stressed by the current conditions, because it must be admitted that it is very difficult to find a job  in a situation like now.
Even in some countries the number of poor people continues to increase, this is truly catastrophic. Therefore,  it is very fortunate for people who
are familiar with Bitcoin, because Bitcoin can be an alternative source of income in a situation like now.

Actually rather than getting contained, the pandemic is getting even worse. Yesterday I read a news article, that claimed that the new strain that was found in Brazil can infect even those who have been vaccinated against COVID 19. If this is true, then we will be in big trouble. Right now there are a lot of expectation from the vaccination program, and it is one of the reasons behind the recent dip in deaths reported from some of the countries, such as the United Kingdom and Israel.

We're actually screwed if this is true, that will require a reformation of current vaccines to adapt to the new strains, plus new vaccinations from scratch. There are a lot of rumors about new strains being discovered quite often, which is quite worrisome. It looks like a never ending nightmare.

most of the European countries are undergoing a hard lockdown by local governments in my opinion unjustified, where I am we are already in the third wave of the virus the infections alternate between many and few therefore red zone until the best situation, who had a precarious work now has to deal with poverty

European countries can afford multiple phases of lockdowns because the governments have enough cash at hand to compensate the workers and the businesses. But that is not the case in developed nations such as India and Pakistan. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of poor people increased by almost 100% in India, as a result of the pandemic in just 12 months of 2020-21.

I wouldn't say that, some European countries may have the ability to afford multiple lockdowns, such as Germany, Austria, France and a few more. The majority of the EU countries do not though. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and many more will have to go through intense austerity measures, after the pandemic ends.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I wouldn't say that, some European countries may have the ability to afford multiple lockdowns, such as Germany, Austria, France and a few more. The majority of the EU countries do not though. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and many more will have to go through intense austerity measures, after the pandemic ends.

EU nations should be fine, because most of the stimulus measures are being sponsored by the European Union (mainly with funding from richer nations such as Germany and France). And regarding countries such as Italy and Greece, they were in a bad economic condition even before the pandemic started and I don't expect that to change considerably in the near future. Austerity measures will be undertaken. There is no other choice.

[livingfree]

Exactly. This covid 19 pandemic will definitely leave negative remarks to every country as it affects all the aspects to live a normal life. Lot of people have struggle to find jobs for their own and when this pandemic came, everyone loses their jobs in a sudden. Even big and established companies have greatly affected and resulted into closure which loses the jobs of millions of people.

For those countries that have hard time dealing with it. Flattening the curve is hard and that's really making their economies struggling.

Many have lost jobs and businesses have closed and went into bankrupt. That's one of the effect that we cannot really forget as the result of this pandemic.

People lost jobs means that there will many that have to deal with hunger because that can also effect them having no food to bring into their table.

Limiting all activities is of course very detrimental for the middle and lower class here, the government requires working from home that only applies to those who have their own businesses who can use an internet connection or office workers who can complete their tasks on a computer screen
For middle class workers such as daily workers, entrepreneurs, small traders, of course, will be greatly affected by the restrictions caused by this pandemic

Working at home is not applicable for all the people in the working class.

Not all services can be brought into that setup because it's really different from what they bring. For those that can be on that setup for the meantime, they can do that and that's a good alternative for them.

But for the other industries that cannot do it alone, they really are suffering.

[Ultegra134]

I wouldn't say that, some European countries may have the ability to afford multiple lockdowns, such as Germany, Austria, France and a few more. The majority of the EU countries do not though. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and many more will have to go through intense austerity measures, after the pandemic ends.

EU nations should be fine, because most of the stimulus measures are being sponsored by the European Union (mainly with funding from richer nations such as Germany and France). And regarding countries such as Italy and Greece, they were in a bad economic condition even before the pandemic started and I don't expect that to change considerably in the near future. Austerity measures will be undertaken. There is no other choice.

I can't speak for other countries, Greece however, was doing considerably better before the pandemic, with Tsipras as Prime Minister. The country's GDP free fall had stopped and the condition was a lot better. Greece exited the third memorandum in 2018.

https://www.goldenvisa-greece.com/greece-exit-memorandum-invest/

This, will radically change after the pandemic is over, we will probably have a 4th Economic Adjustment Program (Memorandum) to repay all the money that has been spent as income benefits due to Covid.

[Mauser]

I wouldn't say that, some European countries may have the ability to afford multiple lockdowns, such as Germany, Austria, France and a few more. The majority of the EU countries do not though. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and many more will have to go through intense austerity measures, after the pandemic ends.

EU nations should be fine, because most of the stimulus measures are being sponsored by the European Union (mainly with funding from richer nations such as Germany and France). And regarding countries such as Italy and Greece, they were in a bad economic condition even before the pandemic started and I don't expect that to change considerably in the near future. Austerity measures will be undertaken. There is no other choice.

I can't speak for other countries, Greece however, was doing considerably better before the pandemic, with Tsipras as Prime Minister. The country's GDP free fall had stopped and the condition was a lot better. Greece exited the third memorandum in 2018.

https://www.goldenvisa-greece.com/greece-exit-memorandum-invest/

This, will radically change after the pandemic is over, we will probably have a 4th Economic Adjustment Program (Memorandum) to repay all the money that has been spent as income benefits due to Covid.

That is great news, very well done Greece. It's good if the money can be repaid so fast. I have no idea how it is going to work in my country. The debt is going to rise substantially this year and next year. And after that I have no clue if its going to be repaid. Also more and more shops are closing down. It is hard to imagine how the economy is going to adapt to the new normal.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I can't speak for other countries, Greece however, was doing considerably better before the pandemic, with Tsipras as Prime Minister. The country's GDP free fall had stopped and the condition was a lot better. Greece exited the third memorandum in 2018.

https://www.goldenvisa-greece.com/greece-exit-memorandum-invest/

This, will radically change after the pandemic is over, we will probably have a 4th Economic Adjustment Program (Memorandum) to repay all the money that has been spent as income benefits due to Covid.

So that is good news for Greece. But personally, I am pained to see that those who caused the economic meltdown are happily enjoying their lives in London and other metro cities, while the ordinary citizens continue to suffer for these crimes. Billions of Euros in government funds were stolen and moved out of Greece and that was the reason why the country needed IMF bailouts. The Western nations punished ordinary Greek citizens for the government's inability to pay back debt. But at the same time, they gave refuge to the criminals who stole the money and moved to various Western nations.

[jaysabi]

It has been about a year since the COVID-19 pandemic is still running, and there is no sign that this pandemic is coming to an end. Already many
people are frustrated and stressed by the current conditions, because it must be admitted that it is very difficult to find a job  in a situation like now.
Even in some countries the number of poor people continues to increase, this is truly catastrophic. Therefore,  it is very fortunate for people who
are familiar with Bitcoin, because Bitcoin can be an alternative source of income in a situation like now.

Bitcoin isn't an income source. It doesn't generate cashflow and it's not a business. You can't "make" money with bitcoin except by spending money on it and hoping it goes up in value. That's no different from literally every other asset on the planet. People act like bitcoin is magic and it's not.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Well, perhaps the current Greek authorities should show more initiative in order to investigate such economic crimes and on the basis of this demand the extradition of such characters. Otherwise, if the authorities of other states start to deal with such things, it will again strongly resemble the external management that was present during the last debt crisis. The most important thing is that this does not turn into a political persecution of the undesirable.

Greece is not a superpower who can force extradition of these criminals. They are living a comfortable life in cities such as London and Paris, without bothering about the lawsuits. London has emerged as a perfect refuge for economic criminals from all around the world. There are more than a dozen from India who are currently based in London, including Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. The British government refuses to extradite them, simply because the stolen money is being stored in British banks.

[Ultegra134]

I wouldn't say that, some European countries may have the ability to afford multiple lockdowns, such as Germany, Austria, France and a few more. The majority of the EU countries do not though. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and many more will have to go through intense austerity measures, after the pandemic ends.

EU nations should be fine, because most of the stimulus measures are being sponsored by the European Union (mainly with funding from richer nations such as Germany and France). And regarding countries such as Italy and Greece, they were in a bad economic condition even before the pandemic started and I don't expect that to change considerably in the near future. Austerity measures will be undertaken. There is no other choice.

I can't speak for other countries, Greece however, was doing considerably better before the pandemic, with Tsipras as Prime Minister. The country's GDP free fall had stopped and the condition was a lot better. Greece exited the third memorandum in 2018.

https://www.goldenvisa-greece.com/greece-exit-memorandum-invest/

This, will radically change after the pandemic is over, we will probably have a 4th Economic Adjustment Program (Memorandum) to repay all the money that has been spent as income benefits due to Covid.

That is great news, very well done Greece. It's good if the money can be repaid so fast. I have no idea how it is going to work in my country. The debt is going to rise substantially this year and next year. And after that I have no clue if its going to be repaid. Also more and more shops are closing down. It is hard to imagine how the economy is going to adapt to the new normal.

I can't speak for other countries, Greece however, was doing considerably better before the pandemic, with Tsipras as Prime Minister. The country's GDP free fall had stopped and the condition was a lot better. Greece exited the third memorandum in 2018.

https://www.goldenvisa-greece.com/greece-exit-memorandum-invest/

This, will radically change after the pandemic is over, we will probably have a 4th Economic Adjustment Program (Memorandum) to repay all the money that has been spent as income benefits due to Covid.

So that is good news for Greece. But personally, I am pained to see that those who caused the economic meltdown are happily enjoying their lives in London and other metro cities, while the ordinary citizens continue to suffer for these crimes. Billions of Euros in government funds were stolen and moved out of Greece and that was the reason why the country needed IMF bailouts. The Western nations punished ordinary Greek citizens for the government's inability to pay back debt. But at the same time, they gave refuge to the criminals who stole the money and moved to various Western nations.

It was good news, in 2018. GDP is now again at a free-fall, even before the pandemic, blame the current Prime Minister Mitsotakis and the pandemic of course. On the other hand, when we're done with this situation, more austerity measures will be taken, it's highly likely that a 4th Memorandum is on its way, in order to repay all the money that has been given in income benefits, due to Covid-19.

[cheezcarls]

The Philippines so far is about to get worse. Instead of going back to square one, we are now 10 steps backward because the government can’t afford anymore to go full lockdown measure. If the government is clearly running out of funds, they have no choice but to print more money. In my city alone, from zero to single digit daily cases, we are now averaging between 17 to 25 new cases. It’s simply because the National Inter-Agency Task Force lifted the restrictions of APORs (authorized personnel outside residence) where swab test is not mandatory anymore, and that’s where our daily cases are increasing again.

Manila and the entire National Capital Region are currently under “hard” general community quarantine and most of the surging cases are there. In the entire Philippines, we are now averaging between 7k-8k+ new cases.

[Ultegra134]

The Philippines so far is about to get worse. Instead of going back to square one, we are now 10 steps backward because the government can’t afford anymore to go full lockdown measure. If the government is clearly running out of funds, they have no choice but to print more money. In my city alone, from zero to single digit daily cases, we are now averaging between 17 to 25 new cases. It’s simply because the National Inter-Agency Task Force lifted the restrictions of APORs (authorized personnel outside residence) where swab test is not mandatory anymore, and that’s where our daily cases are increasing again.

Manila and the entire National Capital Region are currently under “hard” general community quarantine and most of the surging cases are there. In the entire Philippines, we are now averaging between 7k-8k+ new cases.

That's definitely the same case here, the progress we've made in this 5-month long lockdown is negligible. In my opinion, we're many steps backwards too. Lockdown was imposed in November, when we had approximately 1,500 cases daily, in January, some measures were eased, including the reopening of retail shops. At that point, we had around 600-800 cases daily. Shortly after, daily cases are on the rise, everything shuts down again till now.

On the one hand,  we're currently having more than 3,000 cases daily, 700 people in ICUs, with hospitals being unable to handle the situation, and on the other hand, the government is planning to ease the measures, reopen retail and restaurant/coffee shops etc. Due to lack of funds, they are trying to cut down on any benefits that are paid to both employees/employers.

[Sithara007]

That's definitely the same case here, the progress we've made in this 5-month long lockdown is negligible. In my opinion, we're many steps backwards too. Lockdown was imposed in November, when we had approximately 1,500 cases daily, in January, some measures were eased, including the reopening of retail shops. At that point, we had around 600-800 cases daily. Shortly after, daily cases are on the rise, everything shuts down again till now.

On the one hand,  we're currently having more than 3,000 cases daily, 700 people in ICUs, with hospitals being unable to handle the situation, and on the other hand, the government is planning to ease the measures, reopen retail and restaurant/coffee shops etc. Due to lack of funds, they are trying to cut down on any benefits that are paid to both employees/employers.

I am really worried that the situation is about to get worse in Philippines and the other Asian countries. Till now, the impact of COVID 19 in Asia was very limited, with more than 90% of the deaths occurring in Europe and the Americas. But here in India, the number of new infections are just exploding. In just two weeks, the average number of daily infections have gone up by almost 300%. New strains are being discovered, that are more contagious and fatal. Everyone here is worried about the second wave. 

[fullhdpixel]

Maybe International pharma companies can help India out and deliver vaccines from USA? Eventually all people in USA should be vaccinated and then the export of vaccine doses can start. I find it kind of sad that there is no international approach to the vaccination process. Every country is on their own and is trying to out bid others. India has so many more people than USA and UK. A distribution based on population would be fair.

It is harder to convince pharma companies to bring drugs from USA to any other nation, even big rich nations, and harder for them to do that for nations poor like India. Reason for that is the fact that in USA the health sector is unregulated, people could buy all stocks of a drug and 4000x increase the price and sell and there is nothing stopping them doing it, whereas if you did that in any other nation government would literally seize your production and stop you from doing that.

This is why they rather sell something in USA for 300 dollars instead of 10 dollars in big nations and maybe 3 dollars in small nations, why would they lose that? However if they can produce a lot of it and there is vaccines not being sold enough in USA that would spill towards other nations, but that will take some time, which is why I doubt it would be anytime soon.

[DrBeer]

To begin with, I wish you all good health, and that Covid bypasses you and your families!
I am very interested in the view from the people of India - a large country, a large population, a high incidence rate of eight, but the production of a vaccine has been established and there is, it seems to me, a systemic vaccination program. What can you say ? Is the vaccination program working, are there massive problems after vaccination, is there a noticeable / measurable effect from the current vaccine?

Being a resident of India, I can assure you that the vaccination program is proceeding very smoothly here. Right now, there are around 2 million vaccinations done per day, and the steps are being taken to increase this to a level of 5 million doses per day in the coming months. India is using two vaccines - CoviShield from Oxford/AstraZeneca and CoVaxin from Bharat Biotech, with efficacy of 62% and 81% respectively. The impact is not visible yet, as very few people have been administered with two doses of the vaccine.

Thanks a lot for your answer !
I am very pleased that your government has made sufficient efforts to launch such a high-quality program of mass vaccination of the population! I hope there will be a positive effect soon, and as few people as possible will suffer!

To begin with, I wish you all good health, and that Covid bypasses you and your families!

Thank you, hope you are well and healthy physically and mentally.

I am very interested in the view from the people of India - a large country, a large population, a high incidence rate of eight, but the production of a vaccine has been established and there is, it seems to me, a systemic vaccination program. What can you say ? Is the vaccination program working, are there massive problems after vaccination, is there a noticeable / measurable effect from the current vaccine?

The problem with some Asian countries, with due respect, is the high population and hence the density is high which aids viruses like covid-19 even more because they are spread through contact and respiratory droplets from one another.

Then, there is politics which plays an important but sometimes ghastly impact on the decision making during such times. Most of the politicians are under educated and don't even know how to respond to such a big pandemic. Now that they have the vaccine, I read somewhere that there is fear among citizens regarding the legitimacy of the vaccine and some rumors about the side effects.

Thank you for your wishes !
Regarding Asian countries, I agree somewhere, at least in a high population density. But as history shows, even if we accept that the government does not have high-quality knowledge, but they can organize a mass process, and call for executive discipline a large part of the population. Take India and Ukraine, where I live, for example. In India, vaccination is a SYSTEM process, quite well organized, from the provision of the vaccine to the vaccination process itself. We have a complete mess, "they bought a vaccine," but it didn’t arrive, then it came but the wrong one and not so much as ordered, then they dragged on for a long time, they told a lot on TV what an alleged "heroic act" the president and the government had committed ... In fact, they committed a lot of violations and crimes. At the same time, they could not inform the population of the need for vaccination, and now part of them wants to be vaccinated, but there is not enough vaccine, others want but definitely a different vaccine, and still others categorically do not even get vaccinated at all ...

[finaleshot2016]

I'd like to discuss the financial and the mental repercussions of the pandemic plus, how do you cope with the Lockdown yourself?

Our country experienced a lockdown, and now I guess we'll experience it again as the COVID-19 cases per day are massively increasing. The only thing I'm doing during lockdown is to study and earn more knowledge in different aspects as it might help me to grow. It's kinda hard but I won't stay and chill at home during lockdown while everyone is struggling because this is the right time to develop ourselves in terms of physical, mental, and emotional because we need to be strong in order to survive the pandemic.