The novel strain of Corona virus (Covid-19) is primarily a health crisis,

but it has become clear that it has ramifications that extend to many
aspects of the international order. International trade is especially
hard hit; trade recorded its largest ever one-period decline in the
second quarter of 2020, falling 14·3% compared with the previous
period. Affecting the supply and demand capacity since health
issues are reflected in reduced activity in all local economic sectors,
including tradable sectors such as manufacturing. China’s
operations as one of the central manufacturing hub of many global
business is one of an example. This is probably the most striking
impact of the current pandemic is the massive disruptions of the
countries that are active in the trade and export. This means that the
supply chains to some countries with strong trading links to China (for
example, Australia and Malaysia) have been affected in ways that
resemble the results of their model, others with equally strong links
have managed to increase their trade. In the March 2020 OECD
Interim Economic Outlook, the downside scenario saw global growth
halved to 1.5%. That was optimistic! total global merchandise trade
for 2020 is forecast to fall by 9·2% in 2020, and a recovery to the
precrisis trend is unlikely for several years. These changes to the
global trading landscape have wide-ranging consequences for
physical and mental health, as they affect supplies of drugs and
medical equipment, nutrition and food security, and government
income necessary to pay for health services.