The Social, Economic and Sanitary Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In the last 3 months, nearly a third of the world's population has changed their lifestyle. At this time of writing (June 30th) the COVID-19 pandemic has left a total of 10.302.867 confirmed cases, with more than 505.518 deaths worldwide, spreading to more than 188 countries (1). The pandemic has hit each of the different social strata, the population has had to re-adapt to the circumstances, absolutely all of us have changed the way we face the day to day.Asia, Europe and recently Latin America have been involved in this catastrophe, where the delay in the implementation of health policies by governments has aggravated the problem.Currently, Brazil, one of the main countries and economic force in Latin America, occupies the second place in the world with a total of 1.368.195 confirmed cases and 58.314 deaths (1).The COVID-19 pandemic represents a sanitary, social and economic challenge at a global level, since the City of Wuhan in China declared it´s lockdown on January 23th 2020, about a third of the world's population has had to follow the same policies of restriction and isolation at home, imposed by governments, to reduce the spread of the disease to avoid the collapse the health system, measures that today are not entirely clear, as they have been implemented as "emergencies". This is the result of a lack of adequate epidemiological strategies, focused on the impact of the dissemination of the disease, with the application of tests to the population, tests that we do not currently have. Lockdown measures have led to the cessation of industrial and commercial production in most sectors, with job reductions and layoffs. Recently an editorial in the newspaper The Economist (2) revealed that approximately the cessation of economic activity produced by the lockdown and reduction of movement, will lead a total of 420,000,000 people to absolute poverty with incomes of less than USA $1.90 a day. If we look at first world countries, the United States (USA) has reported a gradual increase of 3.5% in unemployment in February versus 14.7% in April 2020.The COVID-19 is without a doubt one of many pandemics that humanity has had to face throughout history. Never before has the fear of death been so pronounce, because we are reminded daily that people are dying in alarming numbers of around 100 deaths per minute and 150,000 deaths per day. This fear of loss, coupled with social distancing, lockdown, economic instability and uncertainty, will result in a strong psychosocial impact that will have to be addressed (3).Regarding to international Health Systems, the impact on the cessation of development and stabilization in the coming months is enormous. It is estimated that England, by prioritizing care for COVID-19 patients and reducing care for cancer patients, within 6 months, will lose 40% of the quality of life gained in the last 5 years. The World Health Organization warns that if, as a result of the health impact of the pandemic, vaccination programs are paralyzed, around 140 children in Africa will die from each death...

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