The Effects of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Pakistan

International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
The Effects of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) Pandemic: An

Exploratory Study of Pakistan
Manzar Abbas Hydari

Shaukhat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan,
and
National College of Business Administration & Economics, Lahore, Pakistan
mahydari@gmail.com
Ghulam Abid
Assistant Professor, Department of Business Studies, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan
dr.ghulamabid@gmail.com
Muhammad Farhan Asif

farhanmalik510@gmail.com
Tahira Hassan Butt

tahirabutt433@hotmail.com
Zohra S. Lassi
University of Adelaide, Australia
Robinson Research Institute
zohra.lassi@adelaide.edu.au
Corresponding author: dr.ghulamabid@gmail.com
Abstract
The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic started from Wuhan, a province of China, and
rapidly spread all over the world and became a cascading disaster. Apart from medical conditions, it has
impacted humans individually, socially, psychologically, financially, and culturally; and worsening
exceptionally severe. This exploratory study aims to determine the inimical and cordial enforcements to
society. An online survey using theoretical sampling methodology was conducted, 97 individuals
participated and 86 responses were included in the study considering them as a knowledge addition. The
contributors adjoined both favorable and unfavorable indicators affecting the COVID-19 outbreak. The
hostile indications, continuing development of different phobias to various restrictions, multiple elements,
unemployment, and economic crisis, stoppage of business, limited social gatherings, and educational
challenges are severe concerns. At the same time, contestants contributed anxiousness regarding health,
awareness about cleanliness, the importance of hygienic and natural diet, lessening pollutions, the essence of
nature, importance of savings and insurances, usage of modern technologies, and significance of
biotechnologies and biosciences. This exploration indorses to imitate a similar study in other regions of the
world to validate the knowledge explored in undergoing study. Further, it is worthwhile for future
researchers to conduct empirical investigations to verify the concepts and constructs explored and discussed
in this study.
Keywords: COVID-19 outbreak, Crisis, Personal factors, Psychological factors, Smart lockdown, Societal
factors, Economical factors, Phobias, High-Technology
ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Copyright ⓒ 2021 SERSC 1431
Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
I. INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) outbreak started in Wuhan, China in early December 2019
(Jiloha, 2020) and was declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 31,
2020 (Huang & Zhao, 2020) and pandemic on March 11, 2020 (Ebrahim, Ahmed, Gozzer, Schlagenhauf, &
Memish, 2020) by the World Health Organization (WHO). The COVID-19 pandemic is considered a more
climacteric disaster (Nawaz et al., 2021) and dreadful threat after the Second World War. It has spread to all
continents except Antarctica, and the cases are increasing exponentially every day (UNDP, 2020). Until May
11, 2021, more than 158 million confirmed cases were reported, while 3.2 million died in 221 countries and
territories around the world (Worldometers.info, 2020) (Error! Reference source not found.). Almost all
countries have imposed lockdown and social distancing and enforced shutdown of most of their industries
and businesses to contain and minimize the spread of the virus (Rana et al., 2021). This resulted in
unemployment, cutting down wages, uncertainty in the society with increasing anxiety and depression
(Torres, Abid, Govers, & Elahi, 2020; Contreras, Baykal, & Abid, 2020). It is also predicted that the post-
COVID-19 era would be a struggle for businesses to recover and major unprecedented and unvarnished
financial crunch is expected (Athar et al., 2021).
Table 1: Corona virus cases

Cases Counts Percentage
World statistics
Total Corona cases 142,114,461
Deaths 3,035,149
Recovered 120,663,491
Active cases 18,415,821
in Mild Condition 18,308,267 99.4%
Serious or Critical 107,554 0.6%
Closed cases 10,721,741
Recovered / Discharge 120,663,491 98%
Deaths 3,035,149 2%
Pakistan statistics
Corona Cases 761,437
Deaths 16,316
Recovered 662,845
Closed Cases 679,161
Recovered 662,845 98%
Deaths 16,316 2%
* Source: https://www.worldometers.info/corona virus/
The WHO has categorized the outbreak of COVID-19 in countries in four stages (1) not initiated, (2)
episodic transfers, (3) agglomerate transfers, and (4) wider spread transfers, and nations have taken and are
still making numerous measures for improving nationwide health and societal progression through various
arrangements during the pandemic (WHO, 2020a). All countries including Pakistan are battling to lessen the
spreading of the Coronavirus utilizing disconnecting exposures, confining movements, isolating people, and
banning congregations. The outbreak in Pakistan has established strong societal, economical, and political
contingencies along with pandemic dilemmas (UNDP, 2020). This paper has studied the impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the personal, family, professional, and social lives of people in Pakistan.
II. Literature Review

Influenza is referred to as “a highly infectious disease, particularly attacking the respiratory system,
transmitted by inhalation of micro droplets and causing periodic epidemics and pandemics” (Kuszewski &
Brydak, 2000). In the last 400 years, 12 confirmed pandemics are experienced, and 11 of those were initiated
in Asia (Hsieh et al., 2006; Kuszewski & Brydak, 2000). The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-19 (also called
mother-of-all-pandemics) affected one-third of the population of the world i.e. approximately 500 million
individuals were infected, of those 50 million, died (Kuszewski & Brydak, 2000). Influenza pandemic in
1957 and later in 1968 has caused over one million and over 700,000 deaths worldwide, respectively

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
(Tognotti, 2009). No evidence of seasonal patterns is constituted but these occurred usually in spring and
summer, and in high-temperature (Hsieh et al., 2006). Factors such as limited human immunity, low
ecological and human nasal temperature, moistness, herd and inadequate aeration inside buildings are found
to be associated with the spread of the virus (Taubenberger & Morens, 2006).
Disastrous situations harmful to psychological well-being like COVID-19 have carried off the fear of
contamination and ailment of beloved ones. Almost every liveliness prospect is dealt with incertitude, and
one-fifth of the world population is under lockdown, individuals in prolonged isolation woe anxiety and
depression due to this pandemic. Social distance is required to slow down the dissemination of Coronavirus
in contradiction of mortal essence. During a survey, 62 percent of Britons were found to have more difficulty
in thinking positive outlooks as compared to what they managed before the epidemic. Moreover, individuals
have to cope up with financial and emotional difficulties simultaneously (The-Economist, 2020).
Realistically, predicting the duration of the Coronavirus is impossible. As a result, smart lockdown refers to
the sealing of specific areas that have several positive events. The smart lockdown aims to show kindness to
the poor and deal with economic hardship while also preventing a pandemic (The News, 2020). Because of
the "yo-yo effect," lockdown cannot be applied indefinitely; however, it can be imposed repeatedly in
circumstances where the number of infected individuals has increased. Some researchers have created an
intermittent lockdown model (ten days of lockdown and four days of work in a fortnight) based on the
fundamental epidemiology theorem that infected individual counts decrease at an exponential rate. The main
characteristics of smart lockdown are locating and isolating contaminated areas geologically that includes:
(1) mandatory use of gloves and masks; (2) work-from-home and online learning; (3) two-week work
schedules for large-scaled utilities and manufacturing industries; (4) imposing strict Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs) that include hygienic conditions, social distancing, and testing, tracing, and isolating
infected people; and (5) establishing surveillance mechanics (PIDE, 2020). During the smart lockdown,
supply chains can be managed to avoid food shortages. Industries such as bakeries, repair shops, tailoring,
and manufacturing are permitted to operate while avoiding gatherings. Lockdowns must be enforced by
meeting the local needs of each countryside, region, or individual location and protecting residents. (Ikram
Sehgal, 2020).
The objective of social distance is to reduce the dispersal of ailment by breaking the bounded circulation of
COVID-19 and stopping new cases. The particular controls by maintaining at least one-meter distance,
reinforcing and convenience the essential social contact, and shorten interaction with infected outsides would
protect people. Taking in adjustable working plans likewise telecommuting, work-from-home, e-learning,
lessening congestions, terminating superfluous amenities, protecting exposed clusters, delimited movements,
and stay-at-home, restructured synchronized healthcare, and social systems to shield infirmaries. The
measures are additional individual combinations of recurring hand hygiene and cough decorum (WHO,
2020a).
As syndrome breakthrough, medical indications are turned into a serious and mental state of the infected
person would be transformed, thus psychic mediation requires adequate confirmation. Research has long-
established that a person's ordeal with a pandemic, would be involved with divergent scales of psychological
complications in the long run, and these persons must not be overlooked. Thus illness duration, therapeutic
indications, and further aspects should be well thought out for the classification of such persons, needing
emotional mediation to devise more specialized steps to enhance the adequacy of mediation (Duan & Zhu,
2020).
A crisis is referred to as “an event with high levels of ambiguity, high stakes, and time pressure” (Teo, Lee,
& Lim, 2017). Traore, Kamsu-Foguem, Tangara, and Tiako (2018) defines crisis as “the appearance of a
state of disorder, abnormal, dysfunction, deep imbalance, serious disorder”. Crisis management is defined as
“the measures and methodologies used to recognize, control and limit the damage of a crisis, and its ripple
effects” (Canyon, 2020). The characteristics of crisis are uniqueness, require autonomy, instant decision
making, positive and negative effects, having the blending influence of psychological, social, financial,

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
technological, and cultural structures, business failures, damaging the personal, social, and work-life (Shaluf
& Said, 2003). The current COVID-19 outbreak has the features of cascading disasters because the enfolding
spillovers are gigantic equally in duration, capacity, unpredictability, societal and financial aspects, and
speculative situations (Mizrahi, 2020). In the recent past, no such crisis has startled the planet as do the
coronavirus. Irrespective of the coronavirus as a worldwide healthcare crisis, it has damaged the international
economy as another crisis. Even if with the crises, organizations have learnt how businesses to retort the
wide-raging social disorders by reframing the visions and missions just in days, and redirected companies for
productions and services by averting consequences of COVID-19 (Bapuji et al., 2020). The propagation of
Coronavirus has become a politico, socio, fiscal and trading crises at individual, local, nation- and worldwide
and the crisis of COVID-19 to be considered potentially as troublemaking era of volatility, ambiguity, and
jeopardy (Karabag, 2020).
Individuals’ intimacy causes the spreading of contagions usually. During current situations of the substantial
pandemic, interaction models swing radically according to situations. During the recent Corona epidemic in
Wuhan, actions like social distancing, closures of schools and businesses, and encourage the people to limit
congregations, and restrain cramped areas; such social interaction setups are modeled. Even though
interaction models are contingent on communal databases, but such investigations are usually focused on
lucrative and mass-populated areas. This constraint could be applied by measuring interaction models in
residences, seminaries, and industries subject to handy facts and demography formations (Asif et al., 2017;
Prem et al., 2020).
Utmost clinical services in the hospitals are break off by the Italian administration. Listed appointments in
the hospitals are called in advance by hospital management and specific symptoms are being inquired. In
case of suspected cases, the individuals are asked not to visit. Check-points for patients are set up and
entrance to the hospital with surgical masks only. Visitors are not allowed in hospitals, restaurants, and
markets and all trading are locked. All elective surgeries were at a standstill to able medical and para-medial
staff for the COVID-19 pandemic (Spinelli & Pellino, 2020). Health Care Workers (HCWs) are highly
susceptible in the workplace. By the concerns of getting infected, HCWs being abstained and teased by
dreadful public causing their profession. Instances of the “disgraceful actions” of freaked out public for the
HCW are (1) hesitancy of taxi drivers in taking up uniformed staff, (2) canceling the rides of medical staff
for the hospitals, (3) asking clinical staff not to use lifts, (4) criticizing medical staff for using public
transport, considering them spreading the virus, and (5) sidetracking ambulance drivers by food
kiosk workers. These highly vulnerable clusters must be given competent societal and psychological well-
being assistance that is required but it is betimes neglected (Qaiser et al., 2021; Koh, 2020).
The education of almost two billion students around the globe is affected due to the shutdown of educational
institutes. Although institutions and students are struggling hard to carry on study through Zoom and Google
classrooms, yet having no or limited internet connectivity and impropriate hardware available are the
bottlenecks for e-learning. As of a report of December 2019, one out of three populaces of Pakistan had
broadband connectivity. The consistent, firmed and widespread reach of e-learning resources to 50 million
school-going children is questionable (Siddiqi, 2020).
Several potential outcomes of isolation and interconnected societal and substantial disassociating are a threat
to psychological well-being. This contains self-destruction, self-mutilation, mishandling, violations,
sociological compromises, and disaggregated affiliations. There is a need of the day to draw an optimized
post-COVID-19 framework of physiological vitality for human beings because sociable and specific means
might be a significant responsive element for alleviating the complications of psychological resilience
(Holmes et al., 2020).
Whilst everyone is impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, different segments of people are practicing it
variously such as (1) youngsters and parents are suffering from closures of schools, (2) oldest might be
suffering from loneliness, end-of-life support, and worsening decimation, (3) persons having psychological
ailment may response back depending upon pandemic related information, (4) frontline healthcare

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
professionals may be scared from contagion, emotional distress and, work pressures, and (5) persons having
little earnings confront layoffs, confined shelters, serious financial crisis, and restricted accessibility to
contemporary techniques (Holmes et al., 2020).
Spreading false information regarding the COVID-19 outbreak on social media is exclusive and distressing.
Dumbfounded and hazardous assertions are distrustful and people disseminate such materials unconsciously
in society whereas, during the unusual Coronavirus circumstances, people follow social-media connections
for awareness of up-to-the-minute revelations and to interconnect with their loved ones (Saqib, 2020). The
CDC (2019) notified that stress, fear, and anxiety about the illness could be the devastating mental state of
the community, containing the elders and minors. During the coronavirus pandemic, the stress may comprise
of (1) concerns regarding self and family health, (2) sleep and diet disorders, (3) aggravating lifelong
diseases, (4) depressing psychological well-being, and (5) extensive consumption of intoxicating, smoking,
and employing narcotics. The anxiety and stress could be managed by various methods including (1)
distancing oneself from reading, listening, and watching the news, electronic and social media sporadically,
(2) taking hygienic and balanced meals, (3) exercising regularly, adequate sleep, (4) taking deep breaths, (5)
avoiding from intoxicating and narcotics, (6) making time for rest, and (7) affectioning and chitchatting with
bosom buddies. The WHO (2020b) issued directives for different communities to cope with the COVID-19
outbreak. The general public is recommended (1) to be compassionate with infected persons as they need
sympathy and affection, (2) do not relate affected one to “victims”, “the diseased”, “COVID-19 families” or
“COVID-19 cases” because they would spend normal life after recovering from the infection, (3) to rely on
authentic and trustworthy facts and news one or two times a day to mitigate anxieties, (4) to be supportive to
relatives, neighbors, and community through phones by protecting oneself instead of physical interactions,
(5) to appreciate the contributions of HCWs, caring and curing infected human beings in the society. Persons
in isolation should (1) keep in touch and sustain social networks through mobile communication, emails, and
social networking, (2) participate in vigorous and exciting hobbies to relax oneself at a time of stress, and (3)
stay away from news and rumors related to a pandemic that upsets and create tension. Senior citizens are
advised to be treated with everyday physical and empathic assistance through households and caregivers
awhile within isolation or during quarantine, disseminate lucid essentials for reducing hazards of contagion,
currently happening and recap the necessary information to ensure the practice of preventive measures, and
to make available all routine medicines which are being used.
Table 2: Operating definitions of adverse factors and opportunities

Terms Definitions Sources
Anxiety “Something felt - an emotional state that included feelings of (Spielberger, 1983)
apprehension, tension, nervousness, and worry accompanied by
physiological arousal.”
Boredom “A unique psychophysical state that is somehow produced by (Vodanovich, 2003)
prolonged exposure to monotonous stimulation.”
Chrono phobia “A specific phobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by a (HealthLine, 2019)
powerful, unwarranted fear of something that presents little or no
actual danger but instigates avoidance and anxiety. Usually, the
fear is of an object, situation, activity, or person.”
Depression “An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that (William C. Shiel Jr.,
affects the way a person eats, sleeps, feels about him or herself, and 2020)
thinks about things.”
Empathy “The intellectual or imaginative apprehension of another's (Jolliffe & Farrington,
condition or state of mind without actually experiencing that 2004)
person's feelings.”
Frustration “A key negative emotion that roots in disappointment and can be (Jeronimus & Laceulle,
defined as irritable distress after a wish collided with an unyielding 2017)
reality”.
Lockdown “A temporary condition imposed by governmental authorities (as (Merriam-Webster.)
during the outbreak of an epidemic disease) in which people are
required to stay in their homes and refrain from or limit activities
outside the home involving public contact (such as dining out or
attending large gatherings).”

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
Maladjusted “Unacceptable mannerism is expressed by an individual in the way (NWAWUBE, 2019)

Behaviors one associates with others. When one’s behavior does not conform
to acceptable standards, it can then be termed maladjusted.
Maladjusted behaviors can include actions of minor offenses such
as impolite social behaviors or excessive socializing to more
serious offenses. They can be exhibited by males and females,
children and adults.”
Nosophobia “A persistent, unfounded fear of suffering from a disease, with Fava and Grandi (1991) as
some doubt remaining despite examination and reassurance”. defined by Fava and
Grandi (1991)
Nosocomephobia “An extreme fear of hospitals. It is a fairly common phobia; many Olesen (2020)
people are known to suffer from it … to an extent, we are all afraid
of hospitals, especially emergency rooms. Not only do hospitals
mean illness, pain, blood, disease, or death; they even usually result
in huge expenses. Visiting a hospital means having to deal with
sickness: yours or someone else’s”.
Sedentary “A lifestyle in which the individual does not perform physical (Guedes, Lopes,
lifestyle activity at the recommended frequency, duration and intensity.” Cavalcante, Moreira, &
Araujo, 2013)
Self-Care “Self-care is what people do for them to establish and maintain (Godfrey et al., 2011)
health, prevent and deal with illness. It is a broad concept
encompassing hygiene (general and personal), nutrition (type and
quality of food eaten), lifestyle (sporting activities, leisure, etc.),
environmental factors (living conditions, social habits, etc.),
socioeconomic factors (income level, cultural beliefs, etc.) and self-
medication.”
Self-Control “The capacity to alter unwanted impulses and behaviors in order to (Willems, Boesen, Li,
bring them into an agreement with internal and external standards.” Finkenauer, & Bartels,
2019)
Stress “A state of threatened or perceived by the individual as threatened Varvogli and Darviri
homeostasis and it is re-established by a complex repertoire of (2011) as exhibited by
behavioral and physiologic adaptive responses of the organism.” (Chrousos & Gold, 1992)
Social Distance “In medical it is referred to the avoidance of close contact with (Merriam-Webster.)
other people during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to
minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection.”
Social Isolation “Disengagement from social ties, institutional connections, or (Pantell et al., 2013)
community participation.”
Sympathy “An emotional response arising when a person takes another’s (Sinclair et al., 2017)
perspective and feels compassion or concern for the other.”
Tension “Mental, emotional, or nervous strain; strained relations or barely (Tension, 2012)
controlled hostility between people or groups.”
Thanatophobia “A conviction of dying soon (although with no objective medical Fava and Grandi (1991) as
reason) with fear of news with reminds of death, such as funerals or defined by (Magelli, Fava,
obituary notices.” Grandi, & Semprini, 1988)
Xenophobia “A negative attitude towards, or fear of, individuals or groups of Hjerm (2005)
individuals in some sense different (real or imagined) from
themselves or the group(s) they belong to.”
The economic effects of COVID-19 would be enormous and ongoing with additional 33 million populations
having approximately 16 million youngsters who can suffer from overwhelming and life-threatening poverty,
as outcomes of the pandemic. The children in childcare homes, immigrant camps, and ethnic groups are
potentially worsened. Several people having no awareness of protection from infection and the parents caring
for the children become ill are the serve concerns (UNICEF, 2020). The UN topmost agency UNICEF has
reported that some countries are expecting the highest births between March 11 and December 16, 2020 in
the 9 months since the COVID-19 outbreak reported. India has a projected 20.1 million births, whereas
China is expecting 13.5 million, Nigeria 6.4 million, Pakistan 5 million, and Indonesia 4 million births,
respectively (The-News, 2020).

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
Roy et al. (2020) depicted that pandemic outbreaks are an episodic anomaly and society suffers numerous
problems and difficulties during these times of intervals. The nonexistence of mindfulness provokes frequent
careless attitudes that cause stringent obstructions in willingness to cope with challenges. Mounesan,
Eybpoosh, Haghdoost, Moradi, and Mostafavi (2020) identified that the foremost challenge as government
and policymaking bottlenecks on the road to inter-sectoral synergies. While performing a SWOT analysis of
outlooks of biological educators and researchers during COVID-19, Byrnes, Kiely, Dunne, McDermott, and
Coffey (2020) has identified the challenges of creating new educational tools, upscaling, adopting the swift
innovations and implementation of high technologies. Hallal, HajjHussein, and Tlais (2020) found threats in
of an e-learning study as (1) unavailability of strong internet link, (2) dependency of students on mobile
phones having no personal computers or laptops, (3) adverse implications on institutional reputation in case
of failure in developing educates, and (4) failing in getting substitute to practical awareness as of laboratory
studies. Zaman, Islam, Zaki, and Hossain (2020) reported the weaknesses of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) interferences of COVID-19 as (1) shortage of reliable data in the
websites, dashboards, and social media, (2) deceptive and inaccurate information as a hindrance in the
provision of routine operations, (3) digital illiterateness as a key barrier for the public in getting benefits
from digitalization, and (4) vulnerabilities in mobile applications and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Torri et al.
(2020) determined threats of Italian public health during retroaction of COVID-19 outbreak as (1) inadequate
extendibility in distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to medics and paramedics, (2)
healthcare implications in continued adjournment and medical support, (3) discrepancies amongst endemic
policies that establish flexible, consistent and persistent groundwork for forthcoming responsiveness to take
of exhausted medical and societal care, and (4) massive chaos in nationwide politics, society, and economies
affecting medical and societal facilities.
Nursing experts and academics have exceptional opportunities to compile medical-related lessons learned
and deficiencies throughout the COVID-19 outbreak as strategic planning for the future needs of rapidly
varying social order (Rosa, Meghani, Stone, & Ferrell, 2020). The most of business models for higher
education reliant on tuition fee from students and grant from governments that is a victim of COVID-19
outbreak. Educational institutes should have to reassess business models in light of the situation of the
coronavirus and introduce more dynamic plans, especially in e-learning and well-equip curriculums
accordingly (Dennis, 2020). The potentials discovered from the experience of online learning during
COVID-19 are (1) a unique experience of learning the tool of e-learning for both teachers and students that
could be beneficial to enhance the learning capabilities in the future, (2) students having other
responsibilities alike employees-on-job and housewives would have equal learning opportunities like full-
time students, (3) e-learning could be an opportunity for dyslexic students, and (4) e-learning could enhance
educator proficiency (Hallal et al., 2020). The COVID-19 has raised an opportunity for educationalists to
develop new mechanisms and take part in alliances of long-distancing (Byrnes et al., 2020). The potential
for improving ICT in (1) prognostication of the forthcoming pandemics through improvements in AI and
data analysis techniques, (2) Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in healthcare can simulate the repeated
operations of health givers as efficient and cost-effective solutions, especially in isolation wards by securing
medical and paramedical staff during pandemics, (3) probe the instantaneous diagnostic techniques to cope
with epidemic situations in future, (4) creating patient awareness in digital healthcare services, educating and
motivating to take advantage of telemedicine, (5) maintaining the well-organized, protected, and handy
Hospital Information System (HIS) to sustain personal health records (PHR) securely, and (6) development
of Epidemiological Research Framework (ERF) for the readiness of future epidemics, as colossal insights
gained from COVID-19 outbreak (Zaman et al., 2020). The opportunities in improving the public health
system in Italy (1) distended expertise for strategic alertness, oversight, and science-based counseling from
Europe-wide and nation-wide leadership (2) swift revamp countrywide and communal framework of rapid-
response consisting of enhanced manpower and secured supply channels, (3) restructuring of intra-regional
healthcare systems for strong coordination between national and elementary healthcare bureaus, (4)
businesslike and result-oriented reevaluating the responsibilities and authorities of medical and other inter-
agency forces, and (5) accountableness powered by augmented high-technologies and effectual procedures
by application of real-world telemedicine (Torri et al., 2020).

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
III. METHOD
This exploratory research is the primary nature of research that examines the factors caused by the COVID-
19 outbreak. This study comprises of consequences of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and associated
experiences of people of Pakistan. Exploratory research is defined as an “investigation into a problem or
situation which provides insights to the researcher. The research is meant to provide details where a small
amount of information exists. It may use a variety of methods such as trial studies, interviews, group
discussions, experiments, or other tactics to gain information” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2020). For the
adequacy of explorative investigation, it is managed in an explicit, authentic, and self-referential manner that
endures consistency confirming protocols. In this manner, exploratory research could accomplish extreme
validity and examine the novel and state-of-the-art phenomenon (Reiter, 2013). Rapley (2014) defined
theoretical sampling as “the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly
collects, codes and analyses his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them”. It is a
procedure wherein the researcher gathers, codifies, and evaluates facts having the determination of causing
and establishing theoretic concepts. During the proceeding, the investigator decides regarding valuable data
while gathering and examining to evolve prospects of the emergent theorization (Papargyropoulou et al.,
2016). The researcher has no prior exact knowledge as for sampling and formation of results (McCrae &
Purssell, 2016). Theoretical sampling is a well familiar ultra-modern technique in the study of social
sciences, and contradictory proceedings regarding essential extrapolation can develop a theory concerning
the theme. This process is likewise suitable in case the analyst has inadequate information on the subject
topic, or investigation is abstruse and difficult to anatomize (Barglowski, 2018). In theoretical sampling,
members are classified based on the vivid requirements of the emergent ideas and models. Such
requirements enforce the sample policies and objectives (Zafar et al., 2021; Morse, 2010).
Farrokhi and Mahmoudi-Hamidabad (2012) described that convenience sampling is somewhat sort of non-
probability sampling wherein participants of the focused populace are employed with the goal of
investigation the meeting determined factual measures like geographical vicinity, easily approachable, at
specific epochs or voluntary inclination. Morse (2010) asserted that inconvenience sampling, members are
classified according to approachability. This sampling technique is practiced at the start of the venture to
recognize the opportunity, key elements, and direction of the whole processing. Jager, Putnick, and Bornstein
(2017) stated that the main benefit of convenience sampling is economical, effectual, and easy to perform.
The major drawback of convenience sampling is the lack of overt generalization. Face book is a convenient
instrument for the exploratory study, especially for conducting surveys in speedy manners, and it can easily
be shaped to work with qualitative analysis, however, the feasibility of the Facebook model relies on survey
contents and attraction of the community (Rafique et al., 2020; Roberts, 2014).
Focused social research networks like ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Open Researcher, and Contributor ID
(ORCID) are used for exchanging research ideas and progression, connecting with worldwide research
professionals, establishing scientific links for self-elevation (Wiechetek). The researchers are switching to
social media scholarly on the strength of convenience, interconnection with counterparts, cooperative
relations, and publications. The supplementary prospect of using social media is an inspiration from
colleagues, networks, and scholars (Gruzd, Staves, & Wilk, 2012).
Data analysis is carried out through Microsoft Excel (ver. 360) and MAXQDA 2020 (VERBI-Software,
2019) aimed at analyses of qualitative, mixed methods, text, and multimedia data. MAXQDA is a computer
program used for the examination and determination of qualitative data deals with the classification of
“Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software” (CAQDAS), also termed as “Qualitative Data
Analysis Software” (QDAS) (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2019).
3.1. Online Survey

Evans and Mathur (2005) stated that online investigative questionnaires get low responses from the society
having internet and knowledge, but it is a more beneficial technique to acquire awareness and facts from the
participants staying various national or international regions with effortlessness and reasonable budgets. Van
Selm and Jankowski (2006) mentioned the benefits of online surveys containing cost-effectiveness, omitting

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
the biases of the investigator, eliminating the hassles of re-entering data into electronic sheets, and
receptiveness of the partaker, pre-formatted feedback, more accessible, and time flexibility for the
participants. A web-based survey was designed in Google forms and the link of the survey was shared with
participants using personal contacts, i.e. ResearchGate, Email-lists, and social media like WhatsApp,
Facebook, and Twitter. The purpose of the survey was explained to the participants in the introduction of an
online survey by using no probability, convenience, and theoretical sampling techniques. The participants
were asked to respond to the two open-ended questions (1) “What personal, domestic, professional and
societal factors have negatively affected the participant by the recent COVID-19 outbreak?” (2), “What
personal, domestic, professional, and societal factors have positively affected the participant by the recent
COVID-19 outbreak?” The survey was executed from April 04 to 09, 2020.
IV. RESULTS
4.1. Participants
Total 97 participants contributed to the survey, from which 11 responses were excluded due to incomplete
information, and 86 valid responses (88.66%) were well-thought-out. Most of the 76 participants (77.91%)
were males, and the rest of the participants were females. The highest majority were participants (44.19%)
from the age group of between 31 and 45 (Table 3).
Table 3: Demographic statistics

Gender and age-wise descriptive statistics
Male
< 18 years 2 2.33%
18 - 30 years 18 20.93%
31 - 45 years 38 44.19%
46 - 60 years 8 9.30%
> 60 years 1 1.16%
Male total 67 77.91%
Female
18 - 30 years 9 10.47%
31 - 45 years 10 11.63%
Female total 19 22.09%
Total (N) 86 100.00%
4.2. Adverse factors

The COVID-19 outbreak impacted the detrimental consequences on personal, family, social, and economic
lives globally. The outcomes of theoretical sampling demonstrated that participants feel nervous, frustrated,
stressed, depressed, and tensed from the ongoing situations. In Error! Reference source not found. and 2,
the partakers identified various types of fears like fear from unknown persons and places, fear of family
wellbeing, fear of disease, fear of going to the hospital, fear of rapid death, and losing their loved ones.
Further, the participants acknowledged that they were suffering the lockdown, maintaining social distance,
boring at homes without any physical activity or exercise. The individuals were worried about economic
challenges such as the discontinuity of businesses, increased workload pressures, salary cut downs, and
rising unemployment, growing poverty along with food insecurity, and unavailability of health facilities.
They exhibited educational challenges for the children, negative and fake exaggerating news on media and
social media, and religious gatherings.
(a) Personal factors: The COVID-19 pandemic is influencing every person psychologically. The outcomes
of the survey have depicted that seven participants (3.9%) having no physical activities are helpless to live a
sedentary lifestyle. The seven respondents (3.3%) respondents illustrated the phobias of Thanatophobia and

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
Xenophobia. Five participants (2.8%) confessed that they are ailing with Nosophobia, and four partakers
(2.2%) have recognized the Chronophobia, while one contributor (0.6%) acknowledged the fear of
Nosocomephobia.
Figure 1: Adverse Factors
As for psychological implications, 11 participants (6.1%) identified the upsurge of stress, five participants
(2.7%) with depression, three partakers (1.7%) recognized frustration and anxiety, and one contributor
(0.6%) acknowledged the raise tension from the situation of COVID-19 outbreak. While seven participants
(3.9%) declared that their workload pressures related to jobs are increased by exceeding working hours.
(b) Family factors: The participants stated the family-related fears and concerns related to the recent
outbreak identifying that three contributors (1.7%) highlighted that fear of family well-being regarding
health and food insecurity.
Unavailability of health facilities is the concern of two contributors (1.1%), for the routine checkups in the
hospitals. Schools and Universities are closed, and 11 respondents (6.1%) tinted the educational challenges
for their children, especially the young kids. The four onlookers (2.2%) mentioned the wariness regarding
boredom of themselves, and their families exclusively the young children.
(c) Societal factors: The large number, 18 participants (9.9%) mentioned the maladjusted behaviors of the
society, even in the pandemic situation of COVID-19, people are not following the instructions from the
agencies regarding lockdown and social distancing, and the defined SOPs. Maintaining the social distance
was troublesome as cultural and religious norms of the society are quite different and people hardly able to
understand what social distancing is and why they must adopt it?

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
Eight participants (4.4%) have identified that lockdown had very badly disturbed the routine lives of the
society, as they were staying at homes continuously. Four respondents (2.2%) highlighted that concentrated
poverty is increasing as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, and it is getting severe due to prolonging the
situation. Further four partakers (2.2%) highlighted the negative role of media is excessively broadcasting
news and events that are causing the disturbance in the society.
Religious congregations identified by three participants (1.7%) as they are unable to get together for
religious matters and workshops that are causing to depress the society as well.
(d) Financial factors: Economic challenges were identified as a great challenge for the world and the
society by 21 participants (11.6%) as it was a big challenge for the society and country to continue
economical activities during the entire course of pandemic that was causing severe negative effects. As for
Business Discontinuity, 12 contributors (6.6%) mentioned that business shutdowns have increased that
increased severe challenges for the business community.
Twelve individuals (6.6%) stated that layoffs as a big challenge for them as they had lost their jobs fear to
drop those soon. Financial wellbeing raised concern from 10 individuals (5.5%) if the outbreak goes for the
long. Four contributors (2.2%) expressed that job insecurity as they were uncertain about their jobs and
fearing losing the jobs. Two candidates (1.1%) informed about the salary cut down. They mentioned that
salaries of employees are decreased from 20% to 50% that also caused increasing in financial stress.
Figure 2: Adverse factors - Word Cloud MAXQDA
4.3. Positive (Optimism, Opportunities) factors

Despite the many downsides of the COVID-19 outbreak, the contestants indicated as shown in Figure 3:
Positive Factors and 4, the upsides of this pandemic as they felt safe and sound in isolation and staying at
home, spending excessive time with families, habits of cleanliness, eating organic, and homemade simply
hygienic and healthy food, working from home. Intentions Peoples to religion and book-reading are
amplified. Self-controlling, self-caring behaviors are matured. The essence of savings and insurance are
consciously improved, and trends in charity, empathy, and sympathy in the social order are elevated.
Governments' attention towards improving the health care system is inclined. Future technologies like
biotechnologies and biosciences are intensifying. The environment around the globe is getting better as air
and noise pollution is reduced.
(a) Personal factors: Beneficial impacts on 19 individuals (11.24%) classified safer and sounder by staying
at homes, and two contributors (1.2%) added that Isolation is considered an element of safety and protection.
Religious intents of 18 participants (10.7%) are grown causing the COVID-19 outbreak. Self-care aspects for
five individuals (3.0%) are strengthened, while the self-control strength of four partakers (2.4%) has been
improved.

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
Work from home option determined by seven individuals (4.1%) as a constructive model because of
performing professional obligations using online means of technologies. Further, four contributors (2.4%)
stated that the intent of reading books increased, and two participants (1.2%) found enough time for the
imminent endeavors during the pandemic days.
(b) Family factors: Splendid domestic aspect of the outbreak is spending of excessive time with families
recognized by 36 contributors (21.3%) caused incrimination families satisfaction levels. Simple natural life
has back from the artificial, mechanical, and chaotic life routines as classified by 10 members (5.9%), and
seven partakers (4.1%) described the habits of simple hygienic foods are being promoted because the hotels
and restaurants are closed and very few people like to get home delivery services of food from restaurants.
Hand hygiene is more consistent with four individuals (2.4%) who identified that habits of cleanliness are
evolved during the outbreak.
Figure 3: Positive Factors
(c) Societal factors: Increased Empathy as classified by four members (2.4%) and people are caring and
more for the patients of COVID-19 and persons facing the financial crisis due to pandemic, and according to
five respondents (3.0%), Sympathy in people is grown to deal more compassionately with other individuals
of the society. Furthermore, Intentions to Charity are raised as described by five members (3.0%) because
more people are helping giving more charity and donations to the needy persons and to the organizations
supporting the society to deal with the outbreak situations.
Due to the shutdown of industries, and reduction of transportations worldwide ecosystems are improved as
found by seven respondents (4.1%), and environmental pollution is condensed, according to seven
contributors (4.1%), and the atmosphere has become better. The ozone layer is healed, and visibility is much
improved. Additionally, three individuals (1.8%) have noticed the elimination of noise pollution because of
lockdown situations and shutdown of industries, and rare traffic situations on roads.
In consonance with four contestants (2.2%) enhancements in biosecurity and biotechnology is need of the
day. People have become more interested in getting knowledge of biosecurity and using biotechnology more
soon as there are high chances of bioweapons and bio warfare instead of traditional wars.

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
(d) Financial factors: Economic aspects identified by five participants (3.0%) the use of innovative high
technologies alike (e-commerce, and home delivery in the business. Intentions to savings in four contributors
(2.4%) are increased as the importance of savings is realized for rainy days while one partaker (0.6%)
acknowledged that the Insurance intentions are expanded.
Figure 4: Positive factors – Word Cloud MAXQDA
Figure 5: Interactive word tree - MAXQDA
Figure 6: Word Cloud - MAXQDA

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
V. DISCUSSION
The underline study determines several hostile and hospitable dimensions of the recent COVID-19
pandemic. The results show that media exaggerations cause the psychological ill-being that is acquiescent
with the study of Saqib (2020) who stated in the study that extensive use of social media during quarantine,
caused increasing the stress and anxiety disorders in isolated patients by suffering the incidents, and
distracted thrills like up stretched insomnia, after evolving pitfalls of awful facts leading to the whole fateful.
The CDC (2019) suggested various approaches for individuals, children, and society to combating the stress
and anxiety during the pandemic outbreak through (1) taking deep breaths, (2) eating well-balanced diets (3)
formal workouts (4) ample asleep, and (5) refraining from narcotics.
5.1. Theoretical and Practical Implications

Although many research studies are published during the current outbreak, exceedingly rare studies are
conducted to observe the behavioral and economical aspects of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The results
of this study will comportment spin-offs to the society in form of theoretical and practical implications.
This study has found the adverse factors of COVID-19 outbreak on personal and ways of life families,
psychological, physiological, social, and financial impressions. The people in lockdown and social
distancing are to survive in a sedentary lifestyle that causes stimulating different phobias such as
Xenophobia, Chronophobia, Thanatophobia, Nosophobia, and Nosocomephobia. Further exaggerations from
electronic, social, and print media have played their trivial protagonist in raising such mental states. The
worldwide economy is damaged with long-lasting effects. On the other side, favorable aspects are also
observed in this study. E-learning and work from home options are quite feasible for the youth and
employees to continue studies and jobs as well. Ecological systems of the world are getting improved and
people have recognized the importance of nature, and natural life, simple and hygienic diet. The habits and
the importance of cleanliness are raised. The researcher recommends the society continue the simplicity and
natural life through balancing resources.
This study has practical considerations on almost every prospect. The study has investigated the different
phobias associated with the contemporary Coronavirus outbreak. This is proposed to psychological well-
being programs on a large scale to cope with the increasing psychological disorders. Students from nursery
to university levels are facing educational challenges as all educational institutes are closed due to long
lockdown and social distancing measures. Although some institutes have initiated online study programs
through zoom meetings and google classrooms, there is a need of the day that enough measures could be
taken to diminish the education damages of the nation. E-teaching, e-learning, and self-learning programs are
required to be initiated at the government and non-government levels even after the current outbreak.
Comprehensive training programs are the emergent need of the society to train the teachers to best utilize the
modern information technologies for teaching, assignments, and examinations. Economic challenges are
almost every individual of the region due to lockdown and business shutdowns. Governmental and other
financial institutions are recommended to issue interest-free loans and reductions in taxes to stabilize the
business community, to some extent.
Many organizations have cut down jobs and salaries of the employees due to economic recession linked to
the COVID-19 pandemic and unemployment has increased hugely. This is a strong recommendation for the
business community, not to lay off the staff suddenly, instead, the salary reduction is the idealized solution to
balance and share the severe impacts of the pandemic. There is a recommendation for employees should also
be utilized to work-from-home option by using the internet and online technologies, and the business
community is recommended to encourage their staff to use the optimal option to work from home.
5.2. Limitation and Future Recommendations

This is about the online exploratory investigation and their major limitations are to access and elaborate the
study aims and questionnaires of the survey. The underlying study was conducted during the COID-19 the
worldwide pandemic in Pakistan. The sample size of 87 is not enough to generalize the knowledge. It is
recommended to repeat the research during and after settling down the current pandemic to study the aspects

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
affecting individuals, family systems, physiological, psychological, social, and economic aspects of societies
and regions, caused by the outbreak. This is also recommended to conduct empirical investigations in
different regions of the world, especially in Asia, Europe, America, etc. to verify the adverse and affirmative
elements found in this exploratory investigation.
CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 outbreak has drastically changed global dynamics of all sorts of personal, societal
psychological and business aspects on the lives of all humans and these impacts would be long-lasting. The
study shows that due to lockdown and social isolation, business dynamics of hotels, restaurants, hospitality,
tourism, mega-events, transportation, automobiles, air aviation, online sports, and petroleum industries are
damaged adversely, and it would not revive soon. Millions of people are unemployed due to this pandemic,
having heavy spillover effects on the public. On the other hand, online trading, work from home,
telemedicine, healthcare, pharmaceutical, home delivery, virtual education, and distance learning, and video
conferencing would be promoting. The dynamics of social interactions are radically transformed.
Interactions to better the environment, less pollution, good habits of cleanliness, kitchen-made simple and
hygienic food, and home-gardening for organic vegetables would be promoted in the future. Expenses are
reduced and intentions to savings and insurance are increasing. The mental health of the people is disturbed
and the need for psychiatrists and psychologists would be rising. The usage of internet technologies, artificial
intelligence, data sciences, biotechnologies, and biosciences are going to increase swiftly. The Coronavirus
outbreak has not only led the globe to catch-22 but has also transformed the lifestyles of all humankind, and
the ways of interaction and communication with each other since a single person socializing the rest world
could fasten the retroaction of overwhelming implications. One has left no option but to adjust and
formulate a novel everyday lifestyle in homes, at public places, and in a working environment.
Abbreviations
WHO = World Health Organization
PHEIC = Public Health Emergency of International Concern
QDAS = Qualitative Data Analysis Software
References
1. Asif, M. F. Mirza, U-K. Khan, A. H. Asif, M. Z. Riaz, S. & Ahmed, S. (2017). Job Satisfaction:
Antecedent and Consequences. Bulletin of Business and Economics, 6(4), 185-194.
2. Athar, M. A., Butt, M., Abid, G., & Arshad, M. (2021). Impact of influential attributes on purchase
intention during covid-19: Theoretical base sequential mediation of image and memories. International
Journal of Management, 12(4), 454-467
3. Bapuji, H., de Bakker, F. G., Brown, J. A., Higgins, C., Rehbein, K., & Spicer, A. (2020). Business and
Society Research in Times of the Corona Crisis: SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA.
4. Barglowski, K. (2018). Where, what and whom to study? Principles, guidelines and empirical examples
of case selection and sampling in migration research Qualitative research in European migration studies
(pp. 151-168): Springer.
5. BusinessDictionary.com. (2020). Exploratory Research Retrieved April 21, 2020, from
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/exploratory-research.html
6. Byrnes, K. G., Kiely, P. A., Dunne, C. P., McDermott, K. W., & Coffey, J. C. (2020). Communication,
collaboration and contagion:“virtualisation” of anatomy during COVID‐19. Clinical Anatomy.
7. Canyon, D. K. (2020). Definitions in Crisis Management and Crisis Leadership: Daniel K. Inouye Asia-
Pacific Center for Security Studies Honolulu United States.
8. CDC. (2019). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Stress and Coping Retrieved April 24, 2020,
from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html
9. Chrousos, G. P., & Gold, P. W. (1992). The concepts of stress and stress system disorders: overview of
physical and behavioral homeostasis. Jama, 267(9), 1244-1252.
10. Contreras, F., Baykal, E., & Abid, G. (2020). E-Leadership and teleworking in times of COVID-19 and
beyond: What we know and where do we go. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.590271.

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
11. Dennis, M. J. (2020). Consider higher education opportunities after COVID‐19. Enrollment Management
Report, 24(5), 1-5.
12. Duan, L., & Zhu, G. (2020). Psychological interventions for people affected by the COVID-19 epidemic.
The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(4), 300-302.
13. Ebrahim, S. H., Ahmed, Q. A., Gozzer, E., Schlagenhauf, P., & Memish, Z. A. (2020). Covid-19 and
community mitigation strategies in a pandemic: British Medical Journal Publishing Group.
14. Evans, J. R., & Mathur, A. (2005). The value of online surveys. Internet research.
15. Farrokhi, F., & Mahmoudi-Hamidabad, A. (2012). Rethinking Convenience Sampling: Defining Quality
Criteria. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 2(4).
16. Fava, G. A., & Grandi, S. (1991). Differential diagnosis of hypochondriacal fears and beliefs.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 55(2-4), 114-119.
17. Godfrey, C. M., Harrison, M. B., Lysaght, R., Lamb, M., Graham, I. D., & Oakley, P. (2011). Care of
self–care by other–care of other: The meaning of self‐care from research, practice, policy and industry
perspectives. International Journal of Evidence‐Based Healthcare, 9(1), 3-24.
18. Gruzd, A., Staves, K., & Wilk, A. (2012). Connected scholars: Examining the role of social media in
research practices of faculty using the UTAUT model. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2340-
2350.
19. Guedes, N. G., Lopes, M., Cavalcante, T. F., Moreira, R. P., & Araujo, T. (2013). Review of nursing
diagnosis sedentary lifestyle in individuals with hypertension: conceptual analysis. Rev Esc Enferm USP,
47(3), 734-741.
20. Hallal, K., HajjHussein, H., & Tlais, S. (2020). A Quick Shift from Classroom to Google Classroom:
SWOT Analysis. Journal of Chemical Education.
21. HealthLine. (2019). What is chronophobia? Retrieved April 24, 2020, from
https://www.healthline.com/health/chronophobia
22. Hjerm, M. (2005). What the future may bring: Xenophobia among Swedish adolescents. Acta
Sociologica, 48(4), 292-307.
23. Holmes, E. A., O'Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., . . . Everall, I.
(2020). Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental
health science. The Lancet Psychiatry.
24. Hsieh, Y.-C., Wu, T.-Z., Liu, D.-P., Shao, P.-L., Chang, L.-Y., Lu, C.-Y., . . . Huang, L.-M. (2006).
Influenza pandemics: past, present and future. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association, 105(1), 1-
6.
25. Huang, Y., & Zhao, N. (2020). Generalized anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms and sleep quality
during COVID-19 epidemic in China: a web-based cross-sectional survey. medRxiv.
26. Ikram Sehgal, B. R. (2020, April 25, 2020). Lock-Down Patterns Differ, Daily Times. Retrieved from
https://dailytimes.com.pk/602015/lock-down-patterns-differ/
27. Jager, J., Putnick, D. L., & Bornstein, M. H. (2017). II. More than just convenient: The scientific merits
of homogeneous convenience samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
82(2), 13-30.
28. Jeronimus, B. F., & Laceulle, O. M. (2017). Frustration.
29. Jiloha, R. (2020). COVID-19 and Mental Health. Epidemiology International (E-ISSN: 2455-7048),
5(1), 7-9.
30. Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2004). Empathy and offending: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Aggression and violent behavior, 9(5), 441-476.
31. Karabag, S. F. (2020). An unprecedented global crisis! the global, regional, national, political, economic
and commercial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Journal of Applied Economics and Business
Research, 10(1), 1-6.
32. Koh, D. (2020). Occupational risks for COVID-19 infection. Occupational medicine (Oxford, England),
70(1), 3.
33. Kuckartz, U., & Rädiker, S. (2019). Analyzing qualitative data with MAXQDA: Springer.
34. Kuszewski, K., & Brydak, L. (2000). The epidemiology and history of influenza. Biomedicine &
pharmacotherapy, 54(4), 188-195.

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
35. Magelli, C., Fava, G. A., Grandi, S., & Semprini, F. (1988). Illness attitudes of patients suffering from
mild heart failure during a pharmacological trial. Medical Science Research.
36. McCrae, N., & Purssell, E. (2016). Is it really theoretical? A review of sampling in grounded theory
studies in nursing journals. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(10), 2284-2293.
37. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.) Lockdown. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved April 28, 2020,
from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lockdown
38. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Social distance. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved April 28, 2020,
from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20distance
39. Mizrahi, S. (2020). Cascading disasters, information cascades and continuous time models of domino
effects. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 101672.
40. Morse, J. M. (2010). Sampling in grounded theory. The SAGE handbook of grounded theory, 229-244.
41. Mounesan, L., Eybpoosh, S., Haghdoost, A., Moradi, G., & Mostafavi, E. (2020). Is reporting many
cases of COVID-19 in Iran due to strength or weakness of Iran’s health system? Iranian Journal of
Microbiology, 12(2), 73.
42. NWAWUBE, M. C. (2019). Analysis of guidance counsellors’activities towards curbing maladjustment
behaviours of secondary school students in onitsha education zone of anambra state. South Eastern
Journal Of Research And Sustainable Development (SEJRSD), 2(2), 1-17.
43. Pantell, M., Rehkopf, D., Jutte, D., Syme, S. L., Balmes, J., & Adler, N. (2013). Social isolation: a
predictor of mortality comparable to traditional clinical risk factors. American journal of public health,
103(11), 2056-2062.
44. Papargyropoulou, E., Wright, N., Lozano, R., Steinberger, J., Padfield, R., & Ujang, Z. (2016).
Conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector.
Waste management, 49, 326-336.
45. PIDE. (2020). Opting for a Smart Lockdown in Pakistan COVID-19 Bulletin: Pakistan Institute of
Development Economics.
46. Prem, K., Liu, Y., Russell, T. W., Kucharski, A. J., Eggo, R. M., Davies, N., . . . Munday, J. D. (2020).
The effect of control strategies to reduce social mixing on outcomes of the COVID-19 epidemic in
Wuhan, China: a modelling study. The Lancet Public Health.
47. Qaiser, N., Sattar, N., Arshi, S., Asif, M.F. and Afridi, J.R., (2021). Impact of thriving on job
performance, positive health and turnover intention: Consequences of thriving at
workplace. International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 13(2), pp.97-107.
48. Rafique, T., Asif, M.F., Afridi, J.R., Rehman, N.U. and Mahmood, K., (2020). Credibility of social
networking sites: Impact on organizational attraction in recruitment filed. Sarhad Journal of Management
Sciences, 6(2), pp.279-294.
49. Rana, K. S., Abid, G., Nisar, A., & Nawaz, M. (2021). Impact of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on
aspects of personal and professional life. Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government,
27(2).
50. Rapley, T. (2014). Sampling strategies in qualitative research. The SAGE handbook of qualitative data
analysis, 49-63.
51. Reiter, B. (2013). The epistemology and methodology of exploratory social science research: Crossing
Popper with Marcuse.
52. Roberts, K. (2014). Convenience sampling through Facebook: SAGE Publications, Ltd.
53. Rosa, W. E., Meghani, S. H., Stone, P. W., & Ferrell, B. R. (2020). Opportunities for Nursing Science to
Advance Patient Care in the Time of COVID‐19: A Palliative Care Perspective. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship.
54. Roy, D., Tripathy, S., Kar, S. K., Sharma, N., Verma, S. K., & Kaushal, V. (2020). Study of knowledge,
attitude, anxiety & perceived mental healthcare need in Indian population during COVID-19 pandemic.
Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 102083.
55. Saqib, A. (2020). Why Ignore the Dark Side of Social Media? A Role of Social Media in Spreading
Corona-Phobia and Psychological Well-Being. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion,
22(1), 29-38. doi: 10.32604/IJMHP.2020.011115
56. Shaluf, I. M., & Said, A. M. (2003). A review of disaster and crisis. Disaster Prevention and
Management: An International Journal.

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
57. Siddiqi, S. A. (2020). Covid-19 education response. Retrieved from

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/645803-covid-19-education-response
58. Sinclair, S., Beamer, K., Hack, T. F., McClement, S., Raffin Bouchal, S., Chochinov, H. M., & Hagen,
N. A. (2017). Sympathy, empathy, and compassion: A grounded theory study of palliative care patients’
understandings, experiences, and preferences. Palliative medicine, 31(5), 437-447.
59. Spielberger, C. D. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory STAI (form Y)(" self-evaluation
questionnaire").
60. Spinelli, A., & Pellino, G. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic: perspectives on an unfolding crisis. Br J Surg,
10.
61. Taubenberger, J. K., & Morens, D. M. (2006). 1918 Influenza: the mother of all pandemics. Emerging
infectious diseases, 12(1), 15.
62. Tension, n. d. (2012). Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing. Retrieved April 20
2020, from https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/tension
63. Teo, W. L., Lee, M., & Lim, W. S. (2017). The relational activation of resilience model: How leadership
activates resilience in an organizational crisis. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 25(3),
136-147.
64. The_News. (2020, May 04, 2020). Smart Lockdown: A better option to combat COVID-19, The News
International. Retrieved from https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/653861-smart-lockdown-a-better-
option-to-combat-covid-19
65. The-Economist. (2020, April 04, 2020). How will humans, by nature social animals, fare when isolated?,
The Economist. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/international/2020/04/04/how-will-humans-
by-nature-social-animals-fare-when-isolated
66. The-News. (2020). Pakistan to record 5m births in 9 months since Covid-19 declared as pandemic
Retrieved May 8, 2020, from https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/655796-pakistan-to-record-5m-births-
in-9-months-since-covid-19-declared-as-pandemic
67. Tognotti, E. (2009). Influenza pandemics: a historical retrospect. The Journal of Infection in Developing
Countries, 3(05), 331-334.
68. Torres, F., Abid, G., Govers, M., & Elahi, N. S. (2020). Influence of support on work engagement in
nursing staff: The mediating role of possibilities for professional development. Academia Revista
Latinoamericana de Administracion, http://doi.org/10.1108/ARLA-04-2020-0057.
69. Torri, E., Sbrogiò, L. G., Di Rosa, E., Cinquetti, S., Francia, F., & Ferro, A. (2020). Italian Public Health
Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Report from the Field, Insights and Challenges for the
Department of Prevention. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10),
3666.
70. Traore, B. B., Kamsu-Foguem, B., Tangara, F., & Tiako, P. (2018). Software services for supporting
remote crisis management. Sustainable cities and society, 39, 814-827.
71. UNDP. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic: Humanity needs leadership and solidarity to defeat the
coronavirus Retrieved April 24, 2020 from
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/coronavirus.html
72. UNICEF. (2020). UNICEF responds to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and Central Asia Retrieved
May 8, 2020, from https://www.unicef.org/eca/unicef-responds-covid-19-pandemic-europe-and-central-
asia
73. Van Selm, M., & Jankowski, N. W. (2006). Conducting online surveys. Quality and quantity, 40(3),
435-456.
74. Varvogli, L., & Darviri, C. (2011). Stress Management Techniques: evidence-based procedures that
reduce stress and promote health. Health science journal, 5(2), 74.
75. VERBI-Software. (2019). MAXQDA 2020 [computer software] (Version 20.1): Berlin, Germany:
VERBI Software. Retrieved from https://www.maxqda.com/
76. Vodanovich, S. J. (2003). Psychometric measures of boredom: A review of the literature. The Journal of
psychology, 137(6), 569-595.
77. WHO. (2020a). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): situation report, 72.
78. WHO. (2020b). Mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak, 18
March 2020: World Health Organization.

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449
79. Wiechetek, Ł. EDUCATORS AND ACADEMICS IN SPECIALIZED SOCIAL NETWORKS.

COMPARISON OF GOOGLE SCHOLAR AND RESEARCHGATE USAGE BY BUSINESS
RESEARCHERS OF MCSU.
80. Willems, Y., Boesen, N., Li, J., Finkenauer, C., & Bartels, M. (2019). The heritability of self-control: A
meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
81. William C. Shiel Jr., M., FACP, FACR, Chief Editor. (2020). Medical Definition of Depression
Retrieved April 21, 2020, from https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2947
82. Worldometers.info. (2020). COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic Retrieved 19 April, 2021, from
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
83. Zafar, R., Abid, G., Rehmat, M., Ali, M., Hassan, Q. and Asif, M.F., (2021). So hard to say goodbye:
impact of punitive supervision on turnover intention. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence,
pp.1-23.
84. Zaman, A., Islam, M. N., Zaki, T., & Hossain, M. S. (2020). ICT Intervention in the Containment of the
Pandemic Spread of COVID-19: An Exploratory Study. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.09888.


The Effects of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Pakistan

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Effects of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Pakistan

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Vol.12, No. 1, (2021), pp. 1431–1449

The Effects of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) Pandemic: An

Manzar Abbas Hydari

Muhammad Farhan Asif

Tahira Hassan Butt

Corresponding author: dr.ghulamabid@gmail.com

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Table 1: Corona virus cases

II. Literature Review

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Table 2: Operating definitions of adverse factors and opportunities

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Maladjusted “Unacceptable mannerism is expressed by an individual in the way (NWAWUBE, 2019)

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

3.1. Online Survey

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Table 3: Demographic statistics

4.2. Adverse factors

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Figure 1: Adverse Factors

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Figure 2: Adverse factors - Word Cloud MAXQDA

4.3. Positive (Optimism, Opportunities) factors

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Figure 3: Positive Factors

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

Figure 5: Interactive word tree - MAXQDA

Figure 6: Word Cloud - MAXQDA

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

5.1. Theoretical and Practical Implications

5.2. Limitation and Future Recommendations

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

57. Siddiqi, S. A. (2020). Covid-19 education response. Retrieved from

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

79. Wiechetek, Ł. EDUCATORS AND ACADEMICS IN SPECIALIZED SOCIAL NETWORKS.

ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC

You might also like