The Impact of COVID-19 on the Socio-economic Indicators of the Selected Asian Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The virus has spread across the globe over the last 20 months. In the interest of public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency to harmonise international responses to the virus. In a strongly interconnected world, the effect of the pandemic goes beyond mortality and morbidity. The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 has also resulted in a global economic crisis. Almost every sector of the economy has been gravely affected by the pandemic to various degrees. In an attempt to curb the spread of the virus many countries have initiated measures such as lockdowns, travel restrictions, ban on public and private transportation, closure of schools and colleges and restrictions on public and social gatherings. These initiatives have led to the decline in GDP, foreign trade and foreign exchange reserves, the rise of unemployment, the crash of stock markets and the depreciation of national currencies among other things. This study assesses the impact of COVID-19 on selected macroeconomic parameters of various Asian countries to present insights on the economic and health crisis caused due to COVID-19. The study analyses the effect of the pandemic on the macroeconomic factors listed above as well as the human cost of the pandemic during the last 20 months. The research finds that the outbreak adversely affected the economy and lives of people in India when compared to selected Asian nations.