Corporate Social Responsibility and COVID-19 Pandemic in Four Continents: An Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic was a serious event that will never be forgotten on planet Earth even if another more serious event of this nature were to once again besiege planet Earth (we sincerely hope not). It was a war on us all with no conventional weapons used. It took so many lives. In fact, it was noted on the website of the Worldometer of Coronavirus that 6,531,169 people worldwide had died as a result of the virus. In the UK where these three editors live, every health service institution across the four countries—England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales—faced unprecedented pressures. The UK government coronavirus website at the time of writing this piece notes that 177,977 people had died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for the virus. A total of 204,015 people died with coronavirus cited on their death certificates as one of the causes of death as at the time of writing this introductory piece to the book. The havoc the virus caused in the UK as depicted above was similar to many countries globally, regardless of where those countries are based on planet Earth. In the USA, the disease took the lives of about 1,050,000 people. It was a never to be forgotten sad episode.