The COVID-19 pandemic is considered as the most crucial global health calamity of the century

and the greatest challenge that the humankind faced since the 2nd World War. In December 2019,
a new infectious respiratory disease emerged in Wuhan, Hubei province, China and was named by
the World Health Organization as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). A new class of corona
virus, known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) has been found
to be responsible for occurrence of this disease. As far as the history of human civilization is
concerned there are instances of severe outbreaks of diseases caused by a number of viruses.
According to the report of the World Health Organization (WHO as of April 18 2020), the current
outbreak of COVID-19, has affected over 2164111 people and killed more than 146,198 people in
more than 200 countries throughout the world. Till now there is no report of any clinically
approved antiviral drugs or vaccines that are effective against COVID-19. It has rapidly spread
around the world, posing enormous health, economic, environmental and social challenges to the
entire human population. The coronavirus outbreak is severely disrupting the global economy.
Almost all the nations are struggling to slow down the transmission of the disease by testing &
treating patients, quarantining suspected persons through contact tracing, restricting large
gatherings, maintaining complete or partial lock down etc. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an
infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. 'CO' stands for corona, 'VI' for virus,
and 'D' for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as '2019 novel coronavirus' or '2019-
nCoV.' The COVID-19 virus is a new virus linked to the same family of viruses as Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some types of common cold. Most people infected with the
COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without
requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop
serious illness. The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about
the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from
infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol-based rub frequently and not touching your
face. Most people who fall sick with COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate symptoms and
recover without special treatment. The virus that causes COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through
droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales. These droplets are too
heavy to hang in the air, and quickly fall on floors or surfaces. You can be infected by breathing
in the virus if you are within close proximity of someone who has COVID-19, or by touching a
contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an
unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work. The economic and
social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of
falling into extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people, currently estimated at
nearly 690 million, could increase by up to 132 million by the end of the year. Millions of
enterprises face an existential threat. Nearly half of the world’s 3.3 billion global workforce are at
risk of losing their livelihoods. Informal economy workers are particularly vulnerable because the
majority lack social protection and access to quality health care and have lost access to productive
assets. Without the means to earn an income during lockdowns, many are unable to feed
themselves and their families. For most, no income means no food, or, at best, less food and less
nutritious food. Millions of agricultural workers – waged and self-employed – while feeding the
world, regularly face high levels of working poverty, malnutrition and poor health, and suffer from
a lack of safety and labor protection as well as other types of abuse. With low and irregular incomes
and a lack of social support, many of them are spurred to continue working, often in unsafe
conditions, thus exposing themselves and their families to additional risks.

The duration of the lockdown, as well as how the recovery will take place is still unknown. That
is why several scenarios are used. In a mild scenario, GDP growth would take a hit, ranging from
3-6% depending on the country. As a result, in the sample of 30 countries covered, we would see
a median decline in GDP in 2020 of -2.8%. In other scenarios, GDP can fall more than 10%, and
in some countries, more than 15%. Service-oriented economies will be particularly negatively
affected, and have more jobs at risk. Countries like Greece, Portugal, and Spain that are more
reliant on tourism (more than 15% of GDP) will be more affected by this crisis. This current crisis
is generating spillover effects throughout supply chains. Therefore, countries highly dependent on
foreign trade are more negatively affected. The results suggest that on average, each additional
month of crisis costs 2.5-3% of global GDP.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020. The first three known cases
were reported on 8 March 2020 by the country's epidemiology institute, IEDCR. Since then, the
pandemic has spread day by day over the whole nation and the number of affected people has been
increasing. Bangladesh is the second most affected country in South Asia, after India. The
‘‘general holiday" (lockdown) was extended several times throughout April and May, until
officially ceasing on 30 May 2020. Ending the lockdown appears to have been primarily driven by
concerns regarding its economic impact, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saying "Economic
activities have to be resumed for the sake of the lives and livelihoods of people. Most countries of
the world have already been compelled to relax shutdown because it is not possible to restrict
people's source of income for an indefinite period. And it is not at all possible for a developing
country like Bangladesh too’’.

COVID-19 in Bangladesh, public awareness and insufficient health facilities remain key
challenges. Despite the growing body of literature examining social media in health contexts,
including public health communication, promotion, and surveillance, limited insight has been
provided into how the utility of social media may vary depending on the particular public health
objectives governing an intervention. For example, the extent to which social media platforms
contribute to enhancing public health awareness and prevention during epidemic disease
transmission is currently unknown. Doubtlessly, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) represents a
great challenge at the global level, aggressively affecting large cities and public gatherings and
thereby having substantial impacts on many health care systems worldwide as a result of its rapid
spread. Each country has its capacity and reacts according to its perception of threat, economy,
health care policy, and the health care system structure. The psychological problem that can arise
due to uncertain conditions to the spread of COVID-19 is anxiety. One of the essential behaviors
that contribute to the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 is awareness related to COVID-19
and the behavior of community adherence to the appeal of Social Distancing. The research
objective was to determine whether awareness of COVID-19 is associated with anxiety and
community compliance with social distancing rules. Besides, to understand differences in
awareness of COVID-19, anxiety, and community compliance with social distancing rules.
awareness of COVID-19 plays a vital role in realizing community compliance with social
distancing rules. The government need to pay more attention to at-risk groups and provide an
official information channel for raising awareness of COVID-19, clear prevention policies, and
health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 especially with the discourse for new normal
people are asked to move back in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the Health
Belief Model theory, individuals will take preventive steps determined by their perceptions of
threats that can affect their health problems and the pros and cons they get in acting. Awareness of
COVID-19 will make individuals perceive COVID-19 as a disease that is dangerous to health so
that individuals take action for prevention. To prevent COVID-19, individuals must have
knowledge related to the etiology, transmission of viruses and their preventive measures. A basic
understanding of influenza pandemic is related to willingness to comply with self-quarantine,
avoid public activities, and reschedule of social gatherings. Awareness is a significant factor
affecting the level of compliance. The Covid-19 pandemic raises new problems that have
implications for areas such as Economics, Psychologists, and Psychosocial. This condition triggers
anxiety in the community.

Countries dealing with existing humanitarian crises or emergencies are particularly exposed to the
effects of COVID-19. Responding swiftly to the pandemic, while ensuring that humanitarian and
recovery assistance reaches those most in need, is critical. Now is the time for global solidarity
and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and
developing world. Only together can we overcome the intertwined health and social and economic
impacts of the pandemic and prevent its escalation into a protracted humanitarian and food security
catastrophe, with the potential loss of already achieved development gains. We must recognize
this opportunity to build back better, as noted in the Policy Brief issued by the United Nations
Secretary-General. We are committed to pooling our expertise and experience to support countries
in their crisis response measures and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We
need to develop long-term sustainable strategies to address the challenges facing the health and
agri-food sectors. Priority should be given to addressing underlying food security and malnutrition
challenges, tackling rural poverty, in particular through more and better jobs in the rural economy,
extending social protection to all, facilitating safe migration pathways and promoting the
formalization of the informal economy. We must rethink the future of our environment and tackle
climate change and environmental degradation with ambition and urgency. Only then can we
protect the health, livelihoods, food security and nutrition of all people, and ensure that our ‘new
normal’ is a better one.
References:

A. Ahmed, F., Zviedrite, N., & Uzicanin, A. (2018). Effectiveness of workplace social
distancing measures in reducing influenza transmission: A systematic review. BMC Public
Health, 18(1), 1–13
B. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5446-1
C. https://www.who.int/news/item/13-10-2020-impact-of-covid-19-on-people%27s-
livelihoods-their-health-and-our-food-systems
D. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7147210/