The Independent: Coronavirus will Bankrupt more People than it Kills

The UK’s newsgroup goliath, the Independent, claims that the Coronavirus will have a deeper toll on the economic sector than public health.

“Coronavirus’s economic danger is exponentially greater than its health risks,” reads the article titled 'Coronavirus will Bankrupt More People than It Kills,' written by Omar Hassan.

The author also asserts that if the virus does not directly affect individuals' lives health-wise, it is most likely to affect it through ‘stopping you going to work’, forcing one’s company to make the workforce ‘redundant’, and ultimately bankrupting the business.

“The trillions of dollars wiped from financial markets this week will be just the beginning if our governments do not step in.” The Independent journalist urges the governments of the world’s leading economies to rethink and reshape their policies amidst the ‘new factor changes [to the] status quo’. The reporter stresses the emerging new global order and the center shifts today. “Russia and China want to reshape global markets — and power balances — to their advantage,” writes the Independent.

The article plainly states that the pandemic outbreak will ‘economically cripple millions,’ specifically since the wide-spreading disease has formed a ‘perfect storm’ with stock market crashes and the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the slow initiation of an actual war in Syria into another conceivable migrant crisis topples the already intensifying troubles.

The author of the article does not fail to mention the weight China has on today’s world economy, he also emphasizes on the ongoing trade war, instigated by President Trump against Beijing. 

“China is the world’s largest exporter and is responsible for a third of global manufacturing, so China’s problem is everyone’s problem — even in the midst of a trade war between the White House and Beijing,” reads the article.

The Independent concludes the article by tackling much grander issues, such as power shifts in the global order, and how the West must prepare for it, but it is important to mention that the author Omar Hassan, returns to the core issue of the day, and tops the article by saying: “All this makes it even more worrying that governments continue to see this as a health crisis, not an economic one. It is time the economists took over from the doctors before the real pandemic spreads.”

Source: The Independent  

Author: Omar Hassan 

Read the full article here 

12 March 2020 16:45