The initial outbreak of the pandemic in China coincided with the Chunyun, a major travel season

associated with the Chinese New Year holiday. A number of events involving large crowds were
cancelled by national and regional governments, including annual New Year festivals, with private
companies also independently closing their shops and tourist attractions such as Hong Kong
Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. Many Lunar New Year events and tourist attractions were
closed to prevent mass gatherings, including the Forbidden City in Beijing and traditional temple
fairs. In 24 of China's 31 provinces, municipalities and regions, authorities extended the New Year's
holiday to 10 February, instructing most workplaces not to re-open until that date. These regions
represented 80% of the country's GDP and 90% of exports. Hong Kong raised its infectious disease
response level to the highest and declared an emergency, closing schools until March and cancelling
its New Year celebrations.

The demand for personal protection equipment has risen 100-fold, according to WHO director-
general Tedros Adhanom. This demand has led to an increase in prices of up to twenty times the
normal price and also induced delays on the supply of medical items for four to six months.

Labelled as a black swan event and likened to the economic scene of World War Two , the outbreak
of COVID-19 (the disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-
2)) has had a detrimental effect on global healthcare systems with a ripple effect on every aspect of
human life as we know it. Sohrabi et al. highlighted the extent of the outbreak with the World Health
Organisation (WHO) declaring the COVID-19 outbreak as a global emergency on January 30, 2020 . In
a response to ‘flatten the curve’ , governments have enforced border shutdowns, travel restrictions
and quarantine in countries which constitute the world's largest economies, sparking fears of an
impending economic crisis and recession .In an attempt to understand the turmoil effect on the
economy, we summarise the effect of COVID-19 on individual aspects of the world economy,
focusing on primary sectors which include industries involved in the extraction of raw materials,
secondary sectors involved in the production of finished products and tertiary sectors including all
service provision industries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 4.3 million confirmed cases and over 290,000 deaths
globally. It has also sparked fears of an impending economic crisis and recession. Social distancing,
self-isolation and travel restrictions have lead to a reduced workforce across all economic sectors
and caused many jobs to be lost. Schools have closed down, and the need for commodities and
manufactured products has decreased. In contrast, the need for medical supplies has significantly
increased. The food sector is also facing increased demand due to panic-buying and stockpiling of
food products. In response to this global outbreak, we summarise the socio-economic effects of
COVID-19 on individual aspects of the world economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching economic consequences including the COVID-19
recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services
sector during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, which included the largest
single-week stock market decline since the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the impact of the
COVID-19 on financial markets,[4][5][6][7][8][9] the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis,[10] the
2021–2022 inflation surge, shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic including the 2020–present
global chip shortage, panic buying,[11][12][13][14] and price gouging.[15] It led to governments
providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. The pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022
global energy crisis and 2022 food crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease itself
and efforts to quarantine it, include ng political, cultural, and social implications.

Lockdowns

Main article: COVID-19 lockdowns

While stay-at-home orders clearly affect many types of business, especially those that provide in-
person services (including retail stores, restaurants and hotels, entertainment venues and museums,
medical offices, and beauty salons and spas), government orders are not the sole pressure on those
businesses. In the United States, people began to change their economic behavior 10–20 days
before their local governments declared stay-at-home orders, and by May, changes in individuals'
rates of movement (according to smartphone data) did not always correlate with local laws.[83][84]
[non-primary source needed][85] According to a 2021 study, only 7% of the decline in economic
activity was due to government-imposed restrictions on activity; the vast majority of the decline was
due to individuals voluntarily disengaging from commerce.

Political impacts

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted politics, both international and domestic, by affecting the
governing and political systems of multiple countries, causing suspensions of legislative activities,
isolation or deaths of multiple politicians and reschedulings of elections due to fears of spreading the
virus. The pandemic has triggered broader debates about political issues such as the relative
advantages of democracy and autocracy, how states respond to crises, politicization of beliefs about
the virus, and the adequacy of existing frameworks of international cooperation. Additionally, the
pandemic has, in some cases, posed several challenges to democracy, leading to it being
undermined and damaged.

States of emergency

At least 84 countries have declared a state of emergency in response to the pandemic, leading to
fears about misuse of power.Reporters Without Borders has claimed that 38 countries have
restricted freedom of the press as a result. Other examples include banning mass protests,
postponing elections or holding them while the opposition cannot effectively campaign, selectively
enforcing lockdown rules on political opponents, handing out relief payments to political supporters,
or scapegoating minorities.[15] Many countries have also unveiled large-scale surveillance programs
for contact tracing, leading to worries about their impact on privacy.