Abstract
Considering the potential threat and the contagious nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns have been implemented worldwide to stop the spread of this novel virus. The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world severely, representing the most severe threat to human health in more than a century. The environment from local to global scales has witnessed apparent positive and negative impacts. Global lockdowns have drastically altered the patterns of energy demand and have caused an economic downturn but at the same time, have provided an upside-cleaner global environment. Such immense unintended advantages offer opportunities for unprecedented insights into the dynamics of our natural and built environments that can lead to viable paths for the conservation and perpetuation of the recovered environments and through sensible policies and practices that can help to create new recovery pathways. Knowledge gained from the studies suggests that a substantial relationship exists between the contingency measures and environmental health. Here in this review, the authors discussed the impact of coronavirus pandemic on human life, healthcare organizations, and the environment. The parallels between the Covid-19 and other diseases are mentioned. Finally, the impact of Covid-19 on society and the global environment has also been highlighted.
Highlights
Coronaviruses belong to the group of viruses with subfamily Coronavirinae within Coronaviridae family and are deemed as possible agents of respiratory diseases with symptoms such as flu, fever, runny nose, cough, breathing difficulty, pneumonia, and lung infection [1]
Based on the alarming levels of spread and severity, on 11 March 2020, the world health organization (WHO) characterized the Covid-19 situation as a pandemic, and by the end of March 2020, Europe emerged as the new hotspot and was declared as the world’s major epicenter [3]
As of 14 July, the Covid-19 disease has spread to more than 200 countries and Union Territories (Figure 2), with over 13,177,855 confirmed cases and over 574,793 confirmed deaths worldwide [2]. As this global pandemic hits more than 200 countries, the virus besides taking a huge toll on public health has completely hijacked the rhythm of our daily lives, hit the global economy, and forced the countries to shut their borders [2, 5]
Summary
Coronaviruses belong to the group of viruses with subfamily Coronavirinae within Coronaviridae family and are deemed as possible agents of respiratory diseases with symptoms such as flu, fever, runny nose, cough, breathing difficulty, pneumonia, and lung infection [1]. Lack of effective testing, understaffed hospitals, precise and scienceoriented guidance and directions, crumbling healthcare systems, and early planning to procure necessary medical equipment [like personal protective equipment (PPE)], despite increasing evidences that the world is facing a global health emergency has been shocking in most of the developed countries especially in the USA, EU, and KU [14]. These countries, being superior in terms of their unions, quality and strength of medical experts and researchers, economic strength, and better healthcare systems, failed enormously in dealing with this pandemic [15]. With international trade slowing down, commodity prices collapsing, the third-world countries that were already in misery are on the edge of full-blown sovereign debt crises [16]
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